


Shadows In the Crypt [New]

by AutumnAlchemist



Series: Shadows of the Past [2]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Cussing, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Ghosts, Hallucinations, Head Injury, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Minor Injuries, Possession, Redeads - Freeform, Serious Injuries, Wind (Linked Universe)-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:41:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 27,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27242857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutumnAlchemist/pseuds/AutumnAlchemist
Summary: Shadows curl and claw around them like mist.It has brought them to the depths of darkness below.Can they save themselves from the darkness they hold inside?
Series: Shadows of the Past [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1607149
Comments: 8
Kudos: 68





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So! I have been super quiet for some time, but! I am here! I had took upon myself for a while to rewrite this first story in the series, in an attempt to make things flow with how my current writing style is now. It took a while for me to edit, get distracted with a new hyperfixation, and now come back to it.
> 
> If you read my first story in the series, you will know how this goes, but also there are changes. Many many changes. >:3
> 
> If you want to read the original, which was created for a weekly prompted in the large LU Discord server quite some time ago, you can find it in the series that this story is a part of. This new story is considered the now 'canonical' beginning of this series, even with the differences of time.
> 
> Enjoy, and be mindful of what you will find later in the story~

The first thing that Wind felt when he awoke was the nauseating sensation of having been thrown through a dark portal. Groaning, he rolled over onto his side, feeling cold stone against his overly warm face. He managed to open an eye, seeing the dark enclosed space they were in was only lit by the low light of the braziers. Pain struck him between his eyes and he hissed, squeezing his eyes shut before he managed to haul himself up onto his hands.

“What Bokoblin smacked me with their stupid bat?” He managed out, pushing his hair from his face to look around (he would have to think of somehow cutting it since it's starting to get a bit long.) A few of the others were starting to wake, looking just about as bad as he felt.

“Let me know if you find them. I'll give them a piece of my mind... or my foot up their ass,” Legend muttered darkly beside him. Wind snorted as he tried to fix his hair to no longer be in the way of his eyes.

“Oh you aren't the only one.”

Wind turned to see Time was sitting up, rubbing his face tiredly. Wind could just tell the way the other held his shoulders that he was hiding his own pain.

“Anyone know why we're in a cave?” A voice called further away and Wind turned to look at the edge of the platform, Sky was on the ground, off the dais that he and a few of the others had been put on, sitting up with his arms atop of the stonework while his face was pale and a tad tinge of green. Looking around, Wind tried to see if he recognized where they were but he couldn't get his memory to work, as if stuck in a thick fog on the ocean.

He finally turned around and noticed the set of stairs on the dais, leading to an opening in the ground much like a well. Whipping his head around, the sailor saw the crudely carved tunnel entrance, but instead of the sunshine of the day on the other side to a larger enclosed space, he saw only suffocating darkness. It didn't swirl like normal dark portals, but if he stared at it too long he could see that the darkness has some solid build to it.

It honestly gave him chills.

“Anyone else seeing what I'm seeing?” Warriors asked, and Wind turned to see that he was slowly standing, looking a tad nauseous as well, but he was facing the dark entrance.

“I see it too,” Four mumbled as he sat up from the bottom of the stairs, pushing himself to his feet. Legend wobbled for a moment as he tried to gain his footing and he stood in front of the darkness covering the entrance.

Wind worried his lip for a moment as he looked back towards the only other exit to the room they were in, recognizing it now for what it was.

“Wanna see if we can get through it?” Legend asked the Captain, who gave a grunt as he stood himself. A squawk of surprise and a yelp of pain behind them had others turning to see Hyrule stumbling backwards off the dais and onto the floor, having seemingly tripped on Wild and landed on Twilight in his attempt to figure out his surroundings.

Wind watched as Legend stepped through, a part of him wanting to scream and stop him, but he was already passing into the dark tunnel, the sound of his boots hitting stone echoing in the chamber. Wind stood up as he cautiously glanced over to see Sky was hiding his face in his crossed arms, as if trying to hide away from the dark room they were in.

"Does anyone recognize this place?" Time questioned as he stood, dusting himself off and giving himself a once over. Before Wind could open his mouth to respond, Legend stepped back, though he certainly looked surprised to be back there.

"I just.. kept moving straight.” He pointed forward, then turned to point at the darkness, and then back to the group. “So why am I back here?"

Wild was helping to pull Twilight up off the ground, both looking worse for wear as far as Wind could tell.

"That's really weird," Four mumbled, hand on his chin in thought as he pulled out a lantern from his bag to step forward, trying to drive off the darkness but it still clung like barnacles to a ship hull. It was a matter of seconds after Four walked through, seemingly engulfed by the darkness, that he was walking back out. The way he glanced back and forth spoke the truth of what Legend just experienced as well.

"It looks like we can't leave this way," Warriors began, and Wind sighed heavily. Great. Just great! He groaned as he pushed his hair back again, scratching his scalp as he tried to piece together why they were here. The last thing he remembered was having a meal with everyone, all of them laughing and joking, before going to bed, set to wake up for the third watch with Four, having Hyrule and Twilight set for the first watch.

So why were they here?

"This ringing any bells for any of you?" Time questioned once again, getting various no's from all of the others. Wind raised his hand from his hair and waved it, gaining their attention..

"This is my era." He explained with a frown.

"Where exactly are we?" Wild asked curiously as he moved to look down the well-like hole in the dais. Wind groaned as he looked upwards.

"This is the entrance to the Earth Temple. It's.... not a bad place. But it's kinda annoying with all the cursed fog and Bubbles, Poe's. And the stupid Floormasters! Ugh! I hated when those stupid hands would suddenly appear and grab Medli!"

"Who's Medli?" Legend asked, though the way Warrior's and Wild whipped their heads around at the name told him they recognized the name. Maybe?

"She was a sage that I had to help lead through this place. Part of my whole quest when I was 10 and all," he explained. Hyrule crept over and glanced down the darkness below, and then looked back.

"How should we go about this?" Hyrule questioned, looking at Time directly and making Wind frown. It was his dungeon... why were they not asking him? He glanced back at Time to see him thoughtful, gazing about the rather empty room they were in.

"I don't believe this is my element," Time offered, turning his single eye to look at Wind. "This would be something our Sailor has more experience in than I." Wind felt his face pulling into a smile automatically, and he felt a swelling of pride in his chest like a seagull that caught a Hyoi Pear!

"If you've been in one dungeon, you've been in them all," Legend muttered behind him. Feeling his face grow warm, Wind was half tempted to reach into his bag and grab his boomerang to smack Legend upside the head with it.

"That may be so," Time began, Wind turning to glare at the older Hero, who gave a slight smile at him. "But even if we've all been through dungeons and temples, not everyone knows how complex it all is, or what is all lurking in it, except for who has already experienced it all."

Wind gave a nod as he crossed his arms, turning to look at all of them. He could show them that he wasn’t just some little kid! He knew exactly what it was like being the hero!

"Well, the Earth Temple won't be so hard now! I remember exactly how to get through here like a ship on a clear breezy day!" He boasted, giving a grin as the excitement of actually proving to all of them how much of a Hero he really was.

"Why do I doubt that?" Legend mumbled off to the side, and Wind glared at him, reaching into his side pouch and pulling out his boomerang, holding it threateningly in his fist.

"Want me to make sure you stop doubting, you sea dog?" He growled in his annoyance, Sky now getting up to stand between them, hands held out in a gesture to try and soothe tensions.

"If we could continue..." Warriors interrupted, reaching out to put a hand on Legend's mouth to stop him from goading the teen on. Wind threw a look at Warriors before he put away the weapon.

"What did you have to face?" Twilight asked curiously, his head tilted slightly much like a dog would do, and Wind had an inkling of suspicion on why it was familiar, but he pushed it back.

"Ok so most of what's in there is like... light based? Shine the light on a reflective object and direct it into something. It works on ReDeads too."

"What are ReDeads?" Wild questioned, looking confused at such a term. It was silent between them as they looked to Wild for a moment.

"You've... never heard of a ReDead?" Warriors asked, Four looking mildly confused as well.

"No?"

"They're like Gibdos, only without the wrappings," Time explained simply, looking rather uncomfortable with the idea of describing that monster.

"What's a Gibdo!?" Wild asked, still confused on these enemy names. Sky's face showed he was just as confused as the Champion was, and Wind waved his hands up to try and catch their attention. Before they all got too distracted again.

"Let's just go down! I can explain it all as we go!" He didn't waste any moment, motioned for them to follow and jumped down the hole into the ground, deep into the darkness that led them further into the Temple.

The sensation of being weightless made his stomach turn for a moment but he managed to swallow down the sick feeling that tried to rise in his throat.

When he passed through the darkness, strange magic having slowed his descent down, he took a few steps forward to glance around the room. It was just as he remembered: cavernous walls enveloped them, most of the ground was excavated away. The entrance to the door ahead was half finished with the beginning carving of stairs, as was the platform they stood on as well, the decayed remnants of a bridge laying on the ground below in the small clumps of brown grass.

"Whoa."

Wind turned to see Four had jumped down next, looking around curiously to see the place, before they all started to drop down one by one. Wind gave all of them a smile as he pointed over.

"First part, easy! Just gotta get to the other side. I had to use my Deku Leaf to float over, just because I was really short then, but I think I can climb up it now!"

"Is that all? I think all of us could get up now... save for you Smithy,” Legend began, giving a glance to the shortest hero. “No offense." 

"None taken..." Four muttered with a roll of his eyes, and Wind gave an exasperated sigh.

"I remember you said something about having to reflect light, correct?" Time questioned, and Wind gave a nod.

"Yeah. But since I've got my Mirror Shield it should be easy now!" Wind offered, making to reach around his pack to show them exactly what he meant, but then he paused, frowning when he didn't feel the normal metal of his shield. It wasn't in his bag, and he only had his normal shield on his back.

"Uh... did someone take my Mirror Shield?" He asked, looking up at them all in confusion. There were shakes of everyone's heads, now others starting to rummage around in their own packs to search through its magically expanded size.

"I certainly don't have it, but I'm missing my Roc's Cape," Four said, pulling out his various items one by one to take stock of what he had, lastly pulling out a bright blue feather to start at it in confusion.

Uh oh...

"Who stole my Medallions!?" Legend shouted as he was pulling at the collar of his tunic, patting himself down for whatever was missing, but no one fessed up. Wind gave a frown as he searched, not seeing his Hookshot or Iron Boots in his bag either.

"I'm missing my Clawshots," Twilight offered, seeing a few various items of his, though the large spinning top was weird looking. "And my Ball and Chain."

"My Clawshots are gone too, along with my Beetle," Sky mumbled, pulling out his Whip and a red colored slingshot to set aside, frowning in confusion.

"It seems my own Mirror Shield is missing," Time explained, showing he only had a metal shield with some intricate patterns on the front that looked like a red bird, but it was like an owl instead of some soaring phoenix on a previous shield he's seen the other's use. It was tense, everyone now glancing to each other to find out who possibly stole it among each other. Silence echoed, before Wind just gave a groan.

"Having two Mirror shields would have made things a lot easier going forward. But now we just have yours, Veteran," Wind muttered with a frown. Everyone gathered up their items before hopping down to head over to the small cliff, reaching out to pull themselves up and pull the others up towards the door.

Wind was the first one through, unsheathing his Phantom Sword as he glanced ahead. He could see the bobbing lanterns of two Moblin's ahead, a third was probably patrolling in front of the door leading out, even though he remembered it was barred.

He moved quietly, his feet making only the slightest sound as he moved towards the first Moblin, catching him by surprise with a strike to the backside. It gave a yowl of pain, dropping its spear and lantern to hold his tail and hop around in agony. Wind couldn't help but snicker before he danced away and took several swipes at the beast, black blood spilling from each strike.

He heard the others do the same, striking at the others monsters before Wind finally dealt the final blow, the Moblin falling to the ground with a squeal and then disintegrating in a cloud of purple smoke, leaving nothing behind but its spear and the Skull Necklace. Wind greedily picked it up to put into his spoils bag and raced to see how the others were doing.

None looked like they were struggling with the monsters, easily dispatching them as well, and Wind just gave them a grin. He pointed up to the two large columns in the room and looked at them.

"Who here can glide?" He asked, already starting to climb the stairs towards the top of the pillars, taking a running leap and pulled out his Deku Leaf to float over, giving himself a quick boost of wind to land up top and away from the spikes. Wild seemed to follow after him, opening up his glider and he did the same, before Wind pointed to the other column with another switch. Wind watched him manage to float over to it as well (after giving him a subtle push of wind himself) and then both switches were pressed

The sound of metal bars rising up greeted them all and they looked down to see the way forward was open, making Wind cheer in triumph. They others had gathered up the stairs to the intricately carved archway above the door, looking curious about how Wind had opened it so easily.

"Come on! Let's get going!" He hopped down with ease, nearly hitting poor Hyrule with his landing, before leading them into the next room, not paying attention to their grumbles and mutters as they entered the next dark room. The only light illuminating it was a single shaft between the two doors, the rest of the room dimly lit to only allow the barest hint of what was inside.

"Hmmm... this looks familiar," Time muttered as he looked up, seeing several red banners at the top of the room, a gold skull emblazoned on the tattered cloth as he stepped forward.

"How?"

"Just something similar to my past."

Wind didn't say anything else, the other's curiously looking around the room. Just as Sky stepped into the shaft of light, there was a strange sound. Wind turned around, seeing large globs of colors starting to rise through the cracks in the floor, before forming more solid and staring at them with large comical eyes, inching forward with some weird gibberish noises.

"Chuchus... ugh," Wind muttered as he pulled out his blade again, set to strike at the slippery gelatinous creatures. More of them appeared around all the heroes, surrounding them. Wind didn't pay much attention to how the other's were fairing. Though they were just Chuchu's, nothing to be honestly afraid of.

He slashed at two Red and one Green, watching them wobble with the strikes, though the Green shrunk down to crawl along the floor. Wind frowned, watching it for a moment, striking when it rose up to try and jump at him. He flicked the goo off of his blade, turning to see how everyone else was fairing, though he couldn't help but snicker at the fact Warriors was covered in green and red slime as he tried to pull it out of his hair.

"Ever fight Chuchu's before?" Wind asked from across the way, making the taller hero give him a dark look as he snickered.

"Yes, I did. But I don't have a hammer to squish them into just goo."

"...That's not how it works."

"You don't remember going through that war with me?"

"Yeah, I remember when the weird magic happened. But I don't remember having to do that." Warriors just gave a grunt as he tried to get the rest of the gunk out of his hair.

"So what's supposed to be in this room?" Legend asked, and Wind just gave him a grin, pulling him over to the shaft of light.

"Stand here, and pull out your Mirror Shield."

"Why?"

"Just trust me! Sheesh! You act like you don't believe me." He just got silence from Legend and Wind stopped, looking up at him.

"You do, right?"

It was silent for a long moment from the question, no one wanting to answer. Wind felt hurt at the very clear answer not being said, and he clenched his fists by his side, feeling his ears warming up as he tried to stave off tears of anger and betrayal.

"Just pull out your damn shield and aim over there," Wind pointed out, his voice wavering to hold back his anger at their silent doubt, and Legend did so. It nearly blinded Hyrule for a second, but the light bounced off of the shield, reflecting forward onto something, before the magic was released, showing a simple wooden chest. Wind stomped past Time and Sky, kicking open the chest and pulled out the map. He may remember this place, but he wanted to be sure they didn't get too lost.

Just as he opened the chest, the sound of more Chuchu's appeared, this time three colored a deep purple. Wind didn't say anything as he just backed up slowly, dragging them with him as they followed. However, when Wild made to use one of his tattered and beaten swords to strike at it, all it did was splatter into splotches, only to reform easily.

"You can't just strike a Dark Chuchu. It needs light to become stone!" Wind shouted, the other's dispersing away as Legend dodged out of the attempted pounce from the other two, right into the beam of light that Legend was still holding out.

They landed with a solid thunk, now made completely of stone, and the third was trailing after Wild. Wind said nothing as he pulled from his bag the Skull Hammer. With a shout, he swung it to the side, knocking through the stone forms of the Chuchu's and turning them into dust. Just as the last one made to go after Wild, he stepped into the shaft of light with Legend, knocking him away.

The Chuchu landed in the light, instantly freezing up into stone in the process. With little effort, Wind did the same, destroying the last of the enemies in the room. It was quiet as the bars released on the doors, allowing them to move forward or backwards. Wind just looked at the others, and frowned at them.

"Still doubt me?"

No one said anything as he put the overly large hammer on his shoulder, but he finally shrugged, deciding to keep it in mind later to rub it in their faces, and stepped through the door into the next room.

He looked up at the large statue with it's grinning face, a reflective surface showing a sun and moon inside each eye, and below the grinning face of the statue was a large cloud of blue fog. It rolled around the floor but not really moving past the ledge of the floor. The others had stepped through just as Wind glanced around, and pointed to the cage above their heads.

“What’s that for?”

"If a Floormaster catches you, you'll end up there," he explained, before pointing to the shaft of light in the room again, giving a look to Legend. The veteran hero gave a roll of his eyes, but he stood there, and then aimed his shield right where Wind told him too. The fog cleared away for him to move forward, and Wind took his hammer once again to slam it down squarely on the peg revealed from the fog.

The bars on the door beside Legend lifted, everyone turning to the now open door. Just as Wind was walking back over, Legend had put his shield back on his back and went to the door, engulfing Wind in the thick fog. He gave a shout as he felt his whole being just get sapped of his energy. It clung to him like a group of spiked Morths, making him sag and drag his feet as he tried to get up and go back to them.

He managed to get up out of the cursed fog, all but Hyrule and Time having stepped through into the next room as he just stood there, panting heavily as he felt the curse sap him of any sort of will to move, to fight, to even just stay awake. His vision swirled with dark spots and then it went dark.

**They left you alone.**

Who was that!? Wind couldn’t lift his head or use his voice, the darkness around him consuming as the whispers darted around his mind.

_ Weak. _

_ Helpless. _

_ Just a child. _

He wanted to desperately shake them off, to tell them all that they were wrong!

_ Abandoned. _

_ Discarded. _

_ Just a child... _

_ Just a child. _

_ JUST A CHILD! _

He struggled to move as he tried to pull himself up, to even begin fighting back. But an anger deep inside of him was bubbling up, and he wanted to scream and shout, to swing his fists and to get into a fight. But he had nothing. No strength. No will. Just forced to lay there and accept his fate.

**You were left alone and discarded so easily by your ‘friends.’ Like a broken weapon.**

Wind felt like he was going to panic. His chest burned with the need for air, and his whole world was enveloped in the darkness of his mind. But he couldn’t do anything! Then, in the darkness he saw a hand, ghostly white and gnarled, before it reached out and grasped his head. Searing pain enveloped him as he laid there, unable to move.

**But you’re not broken. Let me help you…**

The sudden oppressive feeling was lifted and Wind gasped for air, not realizing he had been holding his breath. He pushed himself onto his hands and knees, coughing as he fought to catch his breath. A quick glance up showed that time seemingly hadn’t passed, even if it all felt like a matter of minutes. Or was it hours?

"Guys!" Hyrule shouted out. Wind raised a hand up though, stopping the traveler when he came rushing over to help him.

"Cursed Fog... It'll pass in a minute," He managed out, his strength already starting to return now that he was no longer in the middle. Hyrule's worried face made Wind wince, a twinge of guilt in his chest. But he pushed it away. Guilt had no room in his mind.

"Why didn't you say it was cursed?" Hyrule asked, and Wind gave him a look, just as a few others came back to see about the ruckus.

"I did tell you guys about cursed fog. Before we even dropped down here." He shot a look at all of them, and Hyrule blinked before he began fidgeting. It was obvious that he had forgotten. All of them had. Wind got up to his feet, wobbling for a second before he brushed his clothes of the dust that now clung to him.

“You didn’t exactly detail what this cursed fog would do, Sailor,” Legend said and Wind looked at the other, a rush of hot anger consuming him like a twig in a bonfire.

“You know, maybe I shouldn’t  _ have _ to explain everything to you guys! Maybe if you all didn’t doubt me and what I am capable of doing then things would be just great!” He gave each of them a look before pointing at Legend. He could feel his whole body shaking with a rage he has never felt before, hand wavering in his attempt to keep steady.

It was frightening, but exhilarating.

"You may have the most 'adventures' out of all of us, but that doesn't mean you know everything. I shouldn't have to feel like you guys won't listen if I try to tell you something. But here I am, trying to lead us through, and yet all I've gotten from everyone is doubt and annoyance."

There was only silence as he finished his rant, glaring hotly at Legend.

"Sailor, we don't doubt you." Sky began, and he turned to look at him. Chosen really wasn't a bad person, and he honestly couldn't be mad at him, but at the same time he needed to say things.

"Really? Then why are you guys so reluctant to listen to me?" He questioned, making the other stop and blink.

"You've never said anything about what was ahead."

"And yet I get the feeling you guys won't  _ just fucking listen to me! _ " He shouted, unable to hold it back. He was getting frustrated at the others. Most of them weren't that much older than him, and yet they all listened to each other! Not him! Why weren't they listening to him!?

"Ugh! Whatever! Go get possessed by a Poe or hit in the head by a Stalfos! I don't care!" He shouted, stomping past Legend to the door and grabbing his sleeve, dragging him with him.

"You're coming with me. Or I'll take your shield."

"Let go of me!"

"No. I don't think so. Unless you'll actually listen."

“What has gotten into you?” Legend snarled, yanking his arm out of Wind’s grasp. Wind didn’t answer him but gave a glare, trying to pour every ounce of fury into his gaze.

Legend reluctantly followed him, though Wind didn't feel comfortable having to be this way. He hated it. It made him hate himself, but he didn't like the fact that a few of them were even still questioning it when it was clearly stated by the freaking  _ Hero of TIME _ that he, the  _ Hero of Winds _ , was more adept at leading in this Temple. It left a sour taste in his mouth and made his stomach churn in anger at the idea that he was still looked down upon.

The next room they entered was dark, and much larger. Wind easily passed by two stone crypts, still dragging Legend, even as the lids slid open. He put the other hero over into an alcove and pulled out his Bow to easily shoot the bubble skulls that floated out of the crypts, watching as the skulls were sent careening into the wall before disappearing in puffs of purple smoke.

Just as the door opened again, the others tentatively entered to see that Wind was now climbing up a ladder, grabbing a block that was strategically placed against a wall and sliding it into a crevice, revealing a beam of light out onto the stone floor.

"Veteran, reflect the light over into the alcove. There's a chest that has the key."

"A 'please' would be nice," he heard the other mutter as he slid down the ladder, but he did as he was told, bouncing the light with his mirror shield onto a platform that allowed the illusion magic to dissipate, revealing a chest.

Wind was about to go over and open the chest when there was a shout of surprise, and he spun around, seeing the dark void's hovering around in the floor, and one had revealed the hand that was intent on grabbing the nearest person, which happened to be Four, and attempted to drag him away.

"I don't think so!" Wind gave a shout as he nocked another arrow, the others now drawing their blades, and he let the broadhead arrow fly, striking in the palm of the Floormaster to make it drop the other Hero. Four easily rolled out of the way, unsheathing his sword as he ducked away.

Wind heard the shout and turned, seeing a few more Floormasters had appeared. A total of 6 had appeared in the darkness, and Wind was quick to pull his blade out, rushing over to the closest one that was nearby, which was going after Legend, and he shoved him out of the way, shoving the sword through the phantom hand as it gave a ghostly shriek of pain. He was quick to strike more, driving it back until it finally retreated into its void portal, disappearing without a trace.

He looked up to see the others were managing easily against the multiple Floormasters. Though Wild was grabbed around his head and dragged down, Twilight tried to reach out and stop him but there was nothing to grab. Wind winced as more shrieks of agony resounded in the room, before soon they were left in only silence.

"Where was he taken..." Twilight asked, and Wind put his sword away as he turned to the chest.

"He'll be in the other room, up in the cage."

"How long?"

"Maybe 5 minutes? The Floormasters just like to cause problems, not actually hurt you." He opened the chest to pull out the key at last, motioning for the others to follow him.

"Why?"

"They're actually kinda lonely all the time. It's more of an annoyance than a real issue, you know?" He offered as an explanation, moving to the door and opening the door again.

"Get me out of here!" Wild shouted in the other room, and Wind just gave them all a 'told you so' look.

"Champion! You alright!?" Sky called out, and when they all entered the room again, they found him up in the cage, looking a little shook up but he seemed fine.

"Just a cut on my side from its nail. But I'm fine. How do I get down?"

"Climb out? Medli got caught once and she had to fly out to get down since she was a Rito."

"Oh... well I'm not a Rito."

"Just climb up! I'm sure you can make it and jump down." Wild just gave him a look but he managed to get himself up top from the bars and he hopped down, opening his Paraglider to drift down safely.

When Wild was back to them safely, Wind just turned to give everyone a look over again, and sighed. Why was he still angry? Why was he still so upset with them? They weren't doing anything like they usually were, so why was he just so irritated? He gave them the motion to follow along, using the key to open the only other door in the room.

The next room they entered was another large one. There was a large crevice in the ground with two switches on the floor, the wall to their right had a large section that was a different color than the rest of the stonework, and a large block was up top that could easily be pushed down.

"Ah. This will be easy now with nine of us!" Wind felt confident as he stepped further into the room, taking a chance to glance up at the tattered banners on the wall and seeing the faintest bit of light coming through the small holes in one.

Perfect!

"Look out!" Someone called and Wind had a split second of confusion, before he was rolling out of the way. Several wet 'plop' noises echoed in the room and Wind turned, seeing more Chuchu's wiggling around, more Dark Chuchu's than the usual Red or Green color.

"Someone just step on the switches!" Wind called out, bringing out his blade to slice at the first Green that had slithered its way over, watching it wobble for a second before disintegrating into nothingness. Hyrule and Legend moved to stand on the switches, making the dark section of the wall begin to drop in sections, turning into a set of stairs.

"Get up there and push the block down! Veteran! Stay put for a second!" Wind called out, pulling out his bow and muttering the spell of fire under his breath, before releasing the arrow, the tip ablaze and it caught the brittle fabric of the banner aflame.

He heard the others pushing the block down, just as Legend pulled his Mirror Shield out and reflected the light onto the Dark Chuchu's. Wind gave a gleeful cackle as he pulled out his Skull Hammer, and swung it down onto the stone forms with a cry.

The block dropped down, landing on a hidden switch that had been hidden, and Wind motioned for Legend to follow as the bars over the door were now open, letting them all pass through. The two climbed up the block, ignoring the remaining Chuchu's that had sprouted up from the ground, and the whole group passed through the doorway into the next room.

"So... how do we make it up there?" Warriors asked, making Wind sigh heavily as he looked up at the doorway that was up above them.

It was way too high for anyone to reach just by jumping up to reach it with their hands. He took a moment to try and guess what he had to do, seeing the various blocks and crevices that were inlaid to the ground, and he frowned. He didn't answer, going over to the only visible block and pushed it forward, feeling it slot into a spot on the ground to open a metal shutter above them, bringing them light.

"Okay! So Veteran, you gotta shine the light onto that statue right there," he began, pointing to the statue that was on top of a block. "And then, that wall there? Point it there."

"The one with the weird little swirl on it?"

"Yep!"

"I still think you're a little crazy."

"...Just point the damn thing before I kick your ass."

Legend grumbled before doing just that. The light reflected off the shining surface for a moment before he aimed it at the statue, watching it turn into dust and leave them all a tad speechless.

"I didn't know that was a thing."

"It is! Try the wall now." Legend did the same, the wall turning to dust with the light reflecting to show another block to pull out for them all.

"Huh... that's pretty cool." Sky muttered, looking mildly impressed. Wind just gave a shrug as he went to grab the block hidden behind the wall and pulled. Hyrule and Four came over to help, easily moving the stone block into place at the base of the wall, and hitting another hidden switch to open the bars blocking the door further in.

The next room they entered was large and circular past the steps up, with two Moblins patrolling around the room and a pair of floating lanterns floating around.

"Poes," Wind whispered, frowning in thought as they ducked back around the corner, not wanting to get caught immediately.

"Piece of cake," Warriors commented, about to pull out his bow but Wind stopped him with a hand.

"Not the same Poes!" He hissed out to the other, narrowed eyes. "You can't hit them until they appear with light reflecting on them!" He glanced back to see what he could do for them all. He saw the steps leading up a wall, and the ladder leading up to where another light shaft was at.

"Okay, Veteran," he began, turning to the Hero in question. "Since you're on Mirror duty, you gotta get up there and shine the light on the Poes and make them visible. The rest of us will have to take care of the Moblins. Don't get caught by the Poes when they're not solid."

"Why?" Hyrule asked, head tilted curious.

"Well... they can possess you and it's really really annoying! The last time I was caught unaware by them I..." he trailed off, the words dying in this throat as he finally managed to shake his head.

"Let's just say I have a reason why I hate them."

No one said anything else, and they mobilized out, swords drawn to strike first while the guard was drawn. The Moblins were fairly easy to take care of, but the fact that they couldn't get through the Poes ghostly forms made Warriors curse as he dodged out of the lunging strike.

Just then, a shaft of light hit the large jester-like creature, making it writhe around for a minute before it was suddenly solid. Wind couldn't help but laugh as it began to run around the room in a panic, right into the waiting strikes from Time and Twilight. Legend directed the beam of light again into the second Poe, saving Four and Sky from a fate of ghostly possession, but also accidentally blinding the shortest Hero with the light for a second.

"You okay?" Legend called out, and Four waved him away as he blinked rapidly, trying to get the spots out of his eyes from what Wind could see. The last remnants of the enemies were gone, leaving them alone as the wall ahead of them dropped, revealing a small flight of stairs going further in, leading to two doors. One door was open, the other locked with a key.

"I think I know which way we've gotta go," Sky offered with a chuckle, making Wind nod. He pressed his hand to the door and it opened up, revealing a dark room that led downward, showing at the bottom of the pit were six stone crypts.

"Uh... I don't think all of us are gonna fit in one room," Wind stated, stepping back out quickly before the door closed on them again. He looked thoughtful as he tried to think of what he had to do.

"How many could fit in there?" Twilight asked, and Wind looked to them all.

"Maybe two more besides me? That'd be the max I would say, but it's more of what's inside the room."

"More monsters?"

"Well yeah, but I mean what kind. At least two ReDeads are in there, and don't want us all crammed together and getting stuck."

"I could join," Wild offered, making Wind blink at him.

"You sure?"

"Why not? ReDeads don't seem that scary."

"It's just remembering which spot the key's in and then getting out."

"I'll help." Wind realized he wasn't going to stop the Champion from joining him, so he gave a shrug.

"Alright."

"I'd like to come as well," Sky offered as well, giving a gentle smile. Wind paused in thought before he nodded.

"If you guys could wait out here? It won't take us too long!"

With the other two following after him, Wind entered into the next room and double counted on the large stone sarcophagi. Six in total, standing upright. He looked back at the other two and motioned for them to follow him down.

Dropping down, they faced the stone coffins that were lined up, and Wind cautiously shuffled to the first one ahead. The vibrations of his foot seemed to rattle enough, dropping the stone lid down to crumble into shards that littered the ground, but it was empty.

"So, which one has the key." Sky turned the one on their left, stepping towards it only to raise his shield to block the heavy stone lid from hitting him, but it revealed to them the mummified remains of the Redead, staring out with hollow eyes as it stepped down. It moved to look at Sky for a moment before turning towards Wild's direction.

"Get back!" Wind shouted out, but it was too late as Wild had stepped forward, curiosity getting the better of him, and Wind had only a split second to plug his fingers into his ears to block the most terrifying screech that anyone had ever heard in their lives.

_ SKREEEAAAAAAAH!!! _

He watched as both Wild and Sky were frozen still, unable to move from the noise that he had heard even with his ears plugged, and Wind managed to race over to block the attempted grab, slicing at the creature a few times as it gave a groan of pain, before he deal the last blow, watching it drop down in front of another coffin.

The lid rattled, dropping down just as Wild got out of the way. It revealed another ReDead. Wind scrambled to get up on his feet and run back but again, it gave that horrifying screech, leaving him frozen in place.

His blood turned ice cold as he felt as if the soul of the creature trapped inside was screaming in absolute rage, attempting to satiate its desires through others in the world. He couldn't even turn around to look it into his burning red eyes, still frozen in fear with his back turned.

He watched as Sky seemed to break away first and was racing forward, his Sacred Shield raised along with the glowing blue of the Master Sword. Wind was blinded for a second by the radiance, before the sounds of Sky easily destroying the dark creature sounded, letting Wind catch himself and stumble back. He turned, seeing that it finally had dropped, leaving Sky standing as he panted with effort.

"I think I know why you hate them," Sky offered as he turned back, only to yelp and race forward as another scream was cut off, making Wind turn to see that the creature had grabbed a hold of Wild from behind, spindly hands grappled onto his face as it opened his mouth in an attempt to bite down.

Sky was quick to bash the shield into the creature, making it stagger back at the holy object being reflected at it, and then stumbled back from the bash. Wild was freed quickly, and Wind managed to pull him back away as Sky easily dispatched it with the holy blade.

"They... they looked like..." Wild muttered, wiping at his face to see if he had come back with blood, but there was nothing, and Wind was rather thankful.

“What do they look like?” Sky asked.

Wild gave a shudder as he looked away. “They look like Sheikah Monks.”

Wind and Sky shared a look, not sure what the other was talking about, before Wind was helping him stand back up.

"Let's get the key and get out of here."

"Are there any more of these ReDeads in this place, Sailor?" Sky asked, and he gave a nod.

"Yeah. They're usually in pretty annoying spots too."

"Wonderful. Though they seem to be affected by my shield, just like other dark creatures are."

"Weird..." Wind finally kicked the last coffin, making the lid drop and revealing inside was a simple little key.

"Okay! Let's get back out there to the others."

"Please! I don't wanna find out what else is in here." Wild scrambled up the ladder that dropped down, heading quickly to the door. Wind and Sky followed after, seeing the champion being consoled by Twilight as the other checked him over. Like a mother hen.

"What happened?" Time questioned, and Wind looked up at the older hero.

"ReDeads." It really was the simplest answer. A few of the others gave a wince of sympathy, and Wind nodded.

Wind took a moment to look over his map, trying to make sure he knew which way they were gonna have to go, and he nodded to himself as he rolled up the map and stowed it away for later.

"Alright. So this room," he started, pointing at the locked door behind them all. "Is a dead end room, but it's also gonna be where my Mirror Shield is."

"Are we all going in?"

"No. I don't think the room is big enough for all of us to fit inside," he stated, though that was a lie that he wasn't about to reveal. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes, trying to think of how he wanted to possibly explain it and keep them all out.

"Honestly, I'll go by myself. I've done it before when I was younger, so it'll be a piece of cake," he offered with a grin. It would be the perfect chance to prove to all of them that he didn't need their protection or coddling. He was just as much of a Hero as the others were, even if he wasn't exactly the one chosen by the ancient gods.

"Are you sure? Smithy could probably help you out," Legend offered and Wind frowned at the other, glancing at Smithy."

"It's just one single enemy. I promise, I'll be in and out before you can all swab the deck!" He strode forward, opening the door quickly and stepping inside as they called out to him. He didn't need their help! He could do this all by himself!

The room before him was much larger than the other had been; octagonal in shape with decorations put into the stone columns and edges along the room, one elevated platform above with two brazier, and on the ground level were to alcoves with stone sarcophagi. The middle of the ground had missing tiles, showing the dry dirt beneath the stonework at his feet and the room lit with small torches along the walls. Wind took a moment to gather himself, just as the sound of the bars lowered behind him, locking him inside and preventing escape.

Bring it! He has his sword, his bombs, and an itch to kick some butt!

He checked his stock of bombs, finding there were plenty to go, and he stepped forward to the center of the room. He felt the ground shake for a second before a large, skeletal arm burst through the dry dirt, pulling the rest of itself up. The creature was huge, with a horse-like shape for a skull, the tasseled hat atop its head mimicking the long ponytail of a warrior, bits of old clothing and armor was still sticking to its form, and in both hands of the creature was a massive spiked mace, able to be spun around or slammed down onto him.

Wind just grinned as he looked up at the Stalfos, only to light the fuse behind his back as he shifted around, trying to find an opening. He could feel the bomb getting hot in his hands, and he gave it a quick toss, watching it bounce away towards the slowly approaching enemy, but it missed, going past it and then exploded.

Wind cursed, lighting another fuse but he realized he wasn't quick enough. The Stalfos began to quickly spin itself, using the momentum from its weapon to go faster and faster, and Wind rolled out of the way before he could feel how painful that mace was again in his lifetime.

He fumbled again for another bomb, cursing up a storm as the Staflos lumbered a bit, trying to re-orientate itself. He threw another bomb, seeing it bounce and land just as the Stalfos' feet. Comically it looked down in confusion before the explosion overtook it, scattering its whole body into various parts around the room, the skull now bouncing around in a panic.

Not wasting a single moment Wind raced forward, sword drawn, and began to slam the blade into the brittle bone, hearing it crack with every strike before finally, with a swing of his sword he sent the skull flying into the wall to crumble into dust, leaving him with only the heavy weapon to possibly use.

Wind gave a cheer, glad to have defeated it so quickly, but he was stopped when something came up to grab his ankle. He gave a yelp and tried to pull away, but he was stuck.

He turned to look back down, seeing a weird creature emerging from the ground. It had a single eye glowing red behind some sort of skull shaped head, and from what he could see the long neck as it rose- No wait! It now had three! He pried his foot out of the one mouth and stumbled back, looking at the large snake-like creature as it bobbed its heads up and down in a pattern, hissing at him and making to lunge. Wind brought his shield up to block, and they easily ran into the face to stun itself.

Wind struggled to get back on his feet, ignoring the way his ankle protested angrily at him, and tried to slash at the first head. He watched as it splintered apart, the other two reeling. Wind had a flash of victory, thinking that he had this in the bag. But then suddenly, the head came back, making him stumble back in shock as all three heads looked at him again. Which one did he fight now!? Did it have a certain order to destroy the heads in!

He blocked another attack from the weird snake creature, getting backed up to one of the alcoves. He was about to strike at him while it was stunned when suddenly, agony flared through his side as he felt his whole world spin, and he was tossed to the side. He gave a shout of pain when he landed, unable to catch his breath as he laid on the ground.

_ Get up Link! _ He yelled at himself, but he couldn't even think, his head dizzy. He blinked a few times, turning to see what had hit him, and saw the approaching forms of two more Stalfos, one had hit him, and the three-headed snake was now approaching again.

**_“So weak…”_ **

He grit his teeth as his whole right side flared with pain, and he could feel something sticky dripping down his skin under his tunic. He pulled himself to his feet, wobbling in pain but he wasn't down!

He wouldn't give up without a damn fight!

He felt the air shift more than saw it, and he was quick to duck out of the way as there was a cackle, and a bout of fire going past his head. Great! Wizzrobes too!

Wind stumbled out of the way from the strike from the three headed thing, and now he heard the same telltale ringing noise that signaled the preparation of an attack from a Wizzrobe. Wind stumbled away from the rest, circling around as he tried to see what kind of opening he had. Which enemy should he go for first?

The Stalfos were slow enough, even if they decided to try and get themselves closer by spinning around. The Wizzrobe would teleport around at will, and this weird creature was a bit in the middle. He glanced to his right just in time to see the Wizzrobe spew out more magical fire at him, but he blocked with his shield, giving himself a chance to think.

_ Just think, Link! _

But his head didn't want to. He wanted to grab at his ribs and cry, he wanted to get help but he knew he wouldn't get it! the others were on the other side of the door, and he wasn't about to go crawling to them for help! He did this all by himself just a few years ago.

Why was it so hard now?

He was bombarded by three strikes from the one creature, making him limp off to the side in an attempt to get some distance, but he found himself too close to one Stalfos. He was smacked on the other side, skidding along the ground and all he could do was lay there, struggling to breath as his whole world spun and grew dark.

_ So much for not needing help... _ He thought, looking towards the door but it was blocked by the large body of the snake creature. They wouldn't- couldn't come in. He was going to die here, alone, with nothing to do but just suffer.

He felt himself being picked up, and he looked into the beady eyes of the Wizzrobe, who gave a cackle from its overly large beak, seeing that it had caught him. Deep in those eyes, he saw the malevolent glow of the black-blood infection, and he finally understood.

He really went in over his head. He couldn't take on the infected himself. And here he was, now at the mercy of whatever wanted them all dead.

He heard the sound of shouting, and he happened to glance up in the direction, still being held up like a rag doll by his arm, and saw the other creatures turn in the direction.

There stood Sky and Warriors, looking thoroughly pissed off, and all Wind wanted to do was call out to them, tell them to get away! He knew how to handle them.

**_“But here you are, and you certainly showed them how you handled it.”_ ** A voice whispered in his mind, and he wanted to squash it.

The Wizzrobe cackled again, floating up in the air as it took him with it. His shoulder screamed in agony, and Wind had to bite his cheek to keep from shouting as he floated around, watching with dizzying vision as he was teleported around the room, unable to do anything to help as Warriors and Sky were fighting the enemies.

Sky had effortlessly taken care of the weird snake creature, using the long reach of the Master Sword to slice all three heads as once, leaving it to clatter to the ground and disappear, while Warriors was fending off the attacks from the Stalfos, using large sweeping trikes to go after the legs of the skeletal knights. The Wizzrobe spun its baton in the air for a moment, giving a loud cackle, as it gathered its magical energies.

"Look out!" He managed to get out to them, just in time for Sky to dodge the strike from the second Stalfos, and Warriors finally knocked down the first Stalfos. Suddenly flame spewed forward towards the two. He watched as they ducked away from the fire, but his vision swam as he was taken with the Wizzrobe again around the room at a different angle now.

"You… you’re starting to piss me off!" He hissed out, and finally managed to wiggle his hand into his adventure pouch and pulled out his boomerang. He held it for a moment before he took a swipe at the Wizzrobe's body, hearing it grunt in pain and drop him.

He had no time to try and brace for impact, suddenly landing on the floor with a loud  _ crack,  _ felt blinding pain in his head, and then he saw only darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diving deeper into what is driving him on

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh? What's this? An update on Halloween? Heck ya!
> 
> Be mindful of the new tags I've posted. also I am not sure if I described possible head and neck injuries properly, so please be mindful that it might be inaccurate.

When he woke up, Wind felt like he was going to get sick. He groaned in pain as his stomach did flips, and his head spun and ached something fierce. Through the physical pain he felt calloused but gentle hands moving to hold him up, and then the feeling of cool glass being placed at his lips. He managed to open his mouth and feel the dribbles of a red potion being poured down his throat, the ringing noise in his ears started to dissipate with every drop.

His whole world still felt like he was listening through thick cotton, and he could barely make out the words being said but he managed to swallow the mouthful, feeling sick at the taste but he took the moment to try and catch his breath.

"-lor?" He heard, and he cracked open his eyes. His vision was double, triple sometimes, and he could only make out the blurry shape of blond hair and something blue, as well as something that was akin to the color of dirt as well.

He blinked but all it did was make his whole head spin. He gave a groan, nauseated from the sensation but he felt the cool glass press against his mouth again.

He felt his stomach pinch and he gave a groan. He didn’t know what happened other than he felt like he tipped sideways and the pain became too much. A mixture of burning acid and whatever else came up and he heaved, trying desperately to catch his breath as his whole world spun.

His nose and throat burned as he coughed and heaved more. Someone was rubbing his back and holding his head at a certain angle as he finally had nothing left. It finally stopped yet he had no strength to get up as he coughed and tried to catch his breath even as his ribs hurt and his stomach protested.

He distantly heard something about drinking something more and finally he managed another mouthful of the foul tasting concoction. The aches in his sides started to dissipate, and he felt his trembles start to slow down as he laid in someone's arms.

When had he been shaking?

"Can you hear?" He heard- a bit louder this time- and finally he managed to move his head slightly.

"Don't move your head, Sailor," one of them told him, and he groaned, giving a weak thumbs up. It was so hard to think though. He just wanted to close his eyes. Maybe he could nap.

"Stay awake." Oh. Okay. Again he felt glass and he managed to get another large mouthful down, but more and more of the world seemed so distant, and yet close. Vaguely he could hear them talking to him, trying to keep him awake or even just see how he was doing, but it was just so hard to focus on their voices and what they were trying to tell him.

He just wanted sleep...

He winced in pain at the feeling of his injuries healing, and he felt the world start to grow louder and louder. He blinked a few more times after opening his eyes, his vision a bit clearer but still a bit splotchy.

"Are you with us?" The deep baritone told Wind it was Warriors talking, and he finally gave a sound to them.

"Yeah...'M here," he croaked out, lifting his hand to give a thumbs up. He felt them sag in relief, and he swallowed the saliva gathering in his mouth.

"I could hear... Just far away. Confused," he managed to explain before he felt the rest of the potion being given to him. He accepted it, grimacing at the taste before finally, it was all gone. He took a shuddering breath as the effects washed over him, leaving him shivering for a while.

"You took quite the nasty fall onto your head and neck. We were worried you had broken something," Sky offered, and Wind gave a wince.

"I don't really remember much. Being lifted in the air, watching you two fight and then... nothing." He frowned as he rubbed the spot where his head had hit the ground, wincing at the bruising that was forming already, and his hand came back sticky with blood from his hair.

"How long was I out?" He questioned, trying to get an idea of what's all happened.

"10 minutes at the max. Once you were out of harms way, Chosen here unleashed a volley of arrows into the weird bird creature.

"Wizzrobe. Annoying. The weak ones only shoot fire." He explained, remembering the name of the creature. His memory was still alright, for now.

"I didn't know you had to fight Staldra's as well, Sailor," Sky offered with a smile. He just frowned at the chosen hero for a moment.

"That's what they're called? How'd you kill them so easily?" He questioned, getting a look of confusion.

"You mean they're not from your era?"

"No. I've never seen that kinda thing until just now."

"Why was a creature from your time in his place?" Warriors asked, pointing from Sky to Wind respectively.

Wind just rubbed his head, giving a shrug as he pulled himself up from Warriors' arms, attempting to stand himself even as his legs felt ready to just give out.

"'m fine," he managed out, taking a moment to look around. He could see the scattered remnants of the fight, the large maces on the ground from where they had been dropped and the various scorch marks from the fire blasts.

"I don't think so," Warriors said, his tone stern as he stood up. Wind turned to look back at the older hero, frowning and looking away.

"I was just caught off guard. I thought it was just the one Stalfos fight, not... not more enemies sneaking up on me." Wind gave the best glare he could to Warriors, but he knew it was fairly weak.

"You don't need to go do everything by yourself, Sailor," Sky began, his voice gentle and calm and Wind felt his anger beginning to rise.

"And what? Have you guys show me up? Think of me as weak and can't do it at all?" He saw their surprise and he took a moment to gather his thoughts, holding his head as it throbbed painfully.

"We aren't doing any of that, but I think this whole situation just proved that it's not good to go at anything alone." Warriors had this look that told Wind that it wasn't about to be dropped any time soon.

"You sure? You guys did it before, why not continue to do it?"

"What are you talking about, Sailor?" Wind just grit his teeth before he walked away, heading to the stairs that had appeared towards the platform above, seeing the chest revealed. He ignored their shouts and he opened the chest and grinned. He had his Mirror Shield now! He held it up, looking at the glittering surface and took a moment to look himself in the reflection.

He certainly looked worse for wear, half his hair caked brown with dried blood, his face was had a few bruises but he would survive.

Something glinted in his eye's reflection. He blinked but it was gone, making him frown.

"Don't just walk away like that," Warriors scolded, his eyes hard and Wind felt his anger rising again, but also the headache spike up in intensity.

"Why not?” He turned to look at the older male. “I got my shield now, and all I have to do it shine the light onto that," he paused to point at the sun and moon object above the door, the faintest reflection of light on the surface from the shaft of light now pouring in. "And then, the door opens, we can get moving, and you guys can stop trying to baby me."

"We're not babying you," Sky offered, his face showing how hurt he was and his confusion, and Wind frowned.

"Yeah you guys do. You guys don't really believe I did anything, you guys rush in without listening to me or or or just plain dismissing me and my thoughts!"

"No we haven't."

"Okay, not you specifically, Chosen. I mean Veteran has said it a lot of times, the Old Man just thinks of me as some kid to protect, and not to mention Ordonian! He acts like I'm just one of the local kids that he's gotta be the big brother to. Sure! You're not babying me at all!" He snarled, his hands turning the reflective surface of the mirror away as he stood there in the light, glaring heatedly at the others.

He saw the way Sky looked at him in confusion, but he was focusing on Warriors who was now standing in front of him about to open his mouth to talk.

"Wait."

Silence rang out as they turned to look at Sky.

"Sailor... do you really feel that?" Wind blinked as he looked at the other and frowned.

"Yeah. I do. It's been this way since you guys first met with me."

"Well.... I can't say this for the others out there," Sky began, stepping closer to the him. Wind took a step back further into the light.

Yet the light felt... wrong.

"But I'm sorry if my actions have come across that way to you." Wind frowned at that, not sure if he should take the other's apology as it is.

"There is one more thing I'm going to say I'm sorry for," Sky began, and Wind glanced to see Warriors had a confused look. Sky pulled his shield into his hands and then suddenly, showed it right into his face.

He felt he all encompassing fear of this object suddenly overtaking him, and he brought his arm over his face.

"Chosen! What are you doing?" He heard Warriors shout, yet all Wind could hear was a ringing fog that seemed to envelop him, trying to back out of the gaze on the shield.

"You missed his eyes, Captain. There's something wrong with him." Wind growled as he dared to move his arm, glaring at them.

"There's nothing wrong with me!" He shouted, but then he saw how the two just stared at him, and anger was bubbling under the surface.

_ They don't believe you. _ A voice whispered to him, and he frowned at that.

_ They never did. _

_ You were always the smallest and weakest of them all. _

Wind winced as the light pounced off the holy shield and he backed up more and more, out of the light, into the darkness. It was safe, it was helpful!

Wait... when had he liked the darkness? When had he thought of it safe? No, no that wasn't right.

_ Prove you're just as strong as they are. _

**_Prove to yourself that you don't need their help._ **

Sky was closer now, and he was backed against the wall. Wind tried to find something, anything, to get him to back off! He pulled out his blade and pointed it at Sky, feeling it tremble as he just stood there, backed into a corner, and unable to move.

"Get away! I'm not weak! I'm just me!"

**_No. You're not just you. It is us now._ **

"Get out of him!" Sky shouted out and he was suddenly blinded by the pure light from the Sacred Shield, and Wind gave a shout of agony, his world swirling into darkness again as the whispers continued.

_ Weak. _

_ A child. _

**_Do we really need to help them?_ **

Agony burned through his body, scorching his limbs and skin, but all he was doing was staring in the light. It hurt. It hurt so much! Why was it suddenly so painful?!

**_Do not let them separate us!!_ ** The dark voice shouted, but Wind was helpless as he was being held down in the light, a deep seated sense of betrayal sitting bone deep inside him as suddenly, everything stopped. No pain, no anger, no feelings at all.

"What is that!?"

Wind blearily opened his eyes, and found himself staring at something so strange. It was like a Poe, but nothing he's ever seen before. It was in a black robe of sorts, with long gangly limbs that held an impressive cleaver of a blade. the most striking thing was it's face. It was like a massive goat fused with a wolf, full of sharp teeth and predator eyes, and yet it was ghostly, unable to be touched.

Vaguely he watched as Sky and Warriors were now attempting to fight this thing, and all Wind felt he could do was just lay there in the light, unable to move and help them.

_ 'I really am weak...' _ He thought to himself as he watched them struggle to even land a hit on the creature as it floated around, striking at them with ease. They had wasted their potions on him when they now needed it. He was so useless.

He wanted to curl up and cry like a little kid, to call out for help. But the help here was already losing. He turned and curled up, feeling so defeated and his foot hit something metallic.

He glanced down and saw the Mirror Shield, shining brightly to the ceiling as it was in the sunlight with him. He frowned before sitting up and picking it up. He glanced to see Warriors take a hit with that massive blade, thankfully his thick chainmail keeping him from being severely injured, and Wind finally managed to lift it up, reflecting light at the demonic creature.

The piercing cry it gave at the light shining on it made Wind wince, his head throbbing again sharply along with his ears, but he held the shield as steady as he could. He glanced up to see that it was no longer translucent, standing tall in its full glory.

“ **_Petulant child...”_ ** It hissed at him, and he glared at the purple glow of eyes in those hollow sockets.

“Creepy old goat...” He whispered, holding his shield steady in the light even if he could barely move.

"I got this!" Warriors called, rapidly slashing at the ghostly creature, Sky joining in with quick and precise strikes at the weakest points. Wind took his chance to stand back up onto his shaking feet, determined as ever. This was what was causing him so much anger, so much hatred, and he wanted it  _ gone. _

It reared back and began to float around in the air, and Wind grit his teeth as he stared it down, trying to get the angle right to hit it with the light. Finally he got it and Wind held it there, watching it shudder in the air before the creature gasped in agony, falling to its knees once again to be left open for an attack. Sky was quicker than Warriors had been, coming up to drive the holy blade into the ghostly thing with slashes and stabs.

This time when it floated back up, It began to circle the three of them rapidly, never taking its eyes off them and bringing them all together in the circle. Wind braced his arm more in the shield, holding it as steady as he could as he tried to follow. However, before he could shine the light, it suddenly dashed up towards him, swinging that heavy blade down over its head to try and crush them.

Luckily they had scattered away before anything could actually happen, and Wind took a chance to slide back into the light, shining it once more. It groaned and squealed, once again as solid as it could be like any Poe. Finally, Sky and Warriors stabbed forward at the same time with their blades. It dropped its blade as it thrashed around in agony, holding onto its face for a moment before screaming up at the heavens, disintegrating into various tiny insects then there was nothing left except for the stains of black blood on stone.

Silence rang out in the room for a long moment, all three of them catching their breath, and Wind finally took the chance while in the light to aim his shield up above the door, and finally unlock it. The sun and moon motif shifted to become a bright sun, allowing the bars that had been over the door to lift up, allowing them a chance to leave.

Dropping his arms, Wind stood there, staring at his feet as he tried to really understand what had been happening.

This whole time... he'd been feeling so dark and angry at everyone was because of that thing?

When had it taken hold?

How long had it been taken hold of him?

He swallowed as he looked up, seeing the way Warriors and Sky looked at him and he winced, wanting to curl up and hide away. But... he couldn't hide away from this.

"Sorry..." he muttered, not daring to look into their eyes, not wanting to see the disappointment or judgment for him. "I.... I didn't..." He stopped himself and just stood there in the shaft of light for a moment, and then stepped out.

"I did and.. and I didn't mean all that I had said to you guys. I'm sorry." He got nothing from either of them and he dared to look up, half afraid of what they would say, or what kind of look they would give him.

Was it anger?

Would they leave him here?

It was a surprise to see Warriors coming up and then, kneeling down so they were eye level. Wind flinched when he brought his hand up, and he felt a knot of fear in his throat. He remembered how gentle those hands had been, helping him not moments ago, and... and he had been so  _ mean _ and ungrateful.

"I'm sorry that I made you guys worry, and I'm sorry that I was an ungrateful tit."

He felt that hand finally be placed on his head and he glanced back up, a small bubble of hope and confusion worming its way into his stomach.

It felt so wrong to be given comfort after what he'd said and done.

"If you ever feel like we aren't taking you serious, then... I'm sorry, Sailor." Warriors began and Wind blinked in confusion. He wanted to open his mouth, but he didn't know what to say.

"I... I shouldn't have snapped like that. And... and," he struggled to find the right words.

"Those weren't your thoughts, Sailor," Sky offered, coming up and doing the same. Wind frowned as he shook his head, rubbing his arm nervously as he got the other's hand off his hair.

"But... they were my feelings. Something I'd... kept down for a long long time. Ever since I met with all of you."

He took a moment to see the hurt in Sky's face and he shrank down, feeling so low for having hurt them with his thoughts.

"I mean... I don't actually hate any of you. I don't want to hate you guys or... or anyone else! I love hanging with all of you, telling stories and going out together with everyone. But... it was still there. You guys wanted to try and protect me, to keep me from getting hurt. And yet I was doing all sorts of dangerous stuff that you guys had been doing as well."

Wind looked down to his feet again, looking at the simple boots he wore and tried not to cry.

But he could feel the tears burning at the corners of his eyes.

"I don't regret meeting you guys at all..."

"...I sense a but in here," Warriors began, voice just as quiet as Wind's had been.

"...But sometimes I wish you'd treat me as a real hero that I am. Not just some little kid who can't fight. Or your little brother that you wanna coddle." He stood there nervously, unsure if he went too far with how silent they were being.

He couldn't look up at them, he couldn't bear the thought that his thoughts and feelings would hurt those he cared for, no matter how true it was to himself.

Suddenly he felt himself being pulled into strong arms, and he stumbled, before feeling the cool plating of Warrior's shoulder guard against his cheek, and he blinked rapidly.

"I'd rather you tell your thoughts instead of just letting them stew, Sailor." Hesitantly, Wind reached his arms up and wrapped them around Warriors, struggling to keep himself from crying. But it was harder when Sky reached out and started to rub his back.

Oh. He was crying. If his own sniffles were any clue.

How long he stood there as he quietly cried, he wasn't sure. But when he finally managed it to calm himself, he pulled back and hurriedly wiped hit face, still sniffling.

"I think I got your scarf all wet." Warriors gave a little chuckle as he looked at Wind.

"It'll dry."

"I blew my nose in it."

"Okay no, I'm gonna kick your ass if you actually did that."

Wind couldn't help but snicker, unable to help himself as he turned to Sky and shuffled over, giving him a hug as well. When was the last time he had just... gotten a hug?

When did he think he was too old for hugs?

"Thank you both for... for helping me." He wiped his face again, giving a small smile to Sky. The older hero just gave one back, and they both stood tall again. He took a moment to calm himself, wipe his face again, before they all stepped outside the room.

They expected to see everyone was still there, probably anxious on them to get back, but not seeing anyone there and hearing down the steps fighting made Wind race down, eager to do something to get back for the help he was just given.

By the looks of it, Twilight and Legend had been possessed by Poes, if the masks stuck to their faces and the dark purple striations across their neck was any indication. Racing over, Wind pulled the Mirror Shield off his back and aimed the reflection of light into Legend first, who was about to deal a blow to Wild's head from his stunned position on the ground.

He heard the sound of agony that was a mixture of Legend and the Poe's screech, before the mask slipped off, leaving Legend to drop to the ground in exhaustion as the Poe stood there, stunned at having been evicted so quickly.

"Quick! While its solid!" Wind shouted out, and the first to move was Hyrule, who was quick in dispatching the first Poe. The second had its claws in Twilight, who was dueling with a reluctant Time, and winning. Wind wasted not a second as he flashed the light into Twilight, watching him seize up in pain before tackled to the ground.

He watched as Time was trying to literally rip the mask off to Twilight, and Wind had to pull the Shield up to shine it on both of them. Twilight thrashed, saying something or other about Jalhalla, before finally Time brought his fist crashing into the porcelain mask, creating a network of spiderweb cracks and then, the second Poe came forth. Wind watched as Four came crashing in to destroy the ghostly creature, leaving Time and Twilight a chance to catch their breath.

With a mournful yowl, both Poes were defeated, letting everyone take a moment to breathe. Wind shuffled over to see the way the bruise was blossoming on Twilight's face from where he got punched by Time, and Wind offered a nervous smile.

"That... was an inventive way to get it off," Wind offered, Twilight just groaning.

"Andyone get de name of de horse that kicked me?" He asked, though it was very muffled by the impressive bloody nose he had dripping over his front.

"Not a horse. Just the Old Man showing his punches still hurt."

"Whad I do?" Twilight asked, confused as he looked to the Hero of Time. Said Hero gave a sigh as he helped the other stand, offering a bit of cloth to press it over his face as Wind watched.

"Got possessed by a Poe. I didn't know they did that kinda thing."

"Yeah... happened to me once. I ran into a wall and knocked myself silly when that happened," Wind admitted, turning to see how Legend was doing. He seemed fine, though he was holding his head between his knees and looked like he was suffering some horrible headache. Considering his head had hit the ground. Ouch...

"You gonna be okay, Veteran?" Wind dared to ask, and he saw the other turn to look at him, his eyes filled with pain but he was trying to hide it with anger.

"Took your sweet time getting out of there," Legend muttered and Wind stopped himself from reacting right away, sighing heavily.

"It... it's a long story," he admitted before he reached a hand out to help the other stand on his feet.

"If it helps, I got my butt kicked too," he offered. Legend snorted but took his hand, helping himself stand before Hyrule was coming over, tutting over him and offering him a portion of the red potion that he had, checking his head over any injuries under the hat. Wind took the chance to look everyone over, seeing they were all worse for wear at this point. But they would be okay.

"I'm glad we got out in time," Sky explained as he was helping to wrap up the slice on Wild's arm from Legend's sword strikes, having taken the needle and thread to stitch most of it close to allow it proper healing.

"Tell me about it. I don't think I've ever been afraid of the Veteran before until now."

"Excuse me?" Legend called out, glaring at Wild when he whipped his head around, only to stumble and nearly topple into Hyrule from an apparent dizzy spell.

"Don't move!" Hyrule hissed as he finally pulled his magic forth and began to work on the head injury.

"You may wanna use that same magic on our Sailor here," Warriors said and Wind turned, frowning at him. "He took a nasty hit or two. Just to be safe."

"I..." Wind started, and he took a glance up at the Captain again. The other's deep cobalt told him that he was insisting on it. The earlier conversation came back and he finally nodded.

"Yeah... but if I'm not too bad, you gotta give the Ordonian over there some extra help," Wind insisted, making sure that if his own injuries were alright, that others needed it more than him.

When Hyrule finished using the bit of magic on Legend, he came over to Wind. He looked up at the other's face and before he used his spell, Wind spoke up.

"I'm sorry I snapped earlier," he admitted, making the other pause and blink at him. Then, the traveler gave a smile at him.

"It's a pretty stressful time. I understand."

"I still needed to apologize to you and... and to everyone." Wind didn't say anything else as Hyrule carefully placed his hands on his head, and he felt the warmth seeping into his skin. It was like a headache easing away, like the tide on a beach, his mind being swayed by the rocking of waves. He could almost fall asleep like this. Hyrule finished and pulled back his hands, bringing Wind back into the present.

"You had a mild concussion. I'm sure it was worse before but I can feel the effects of a potion in you. So that potion definitely saved your life," Hyrule explained. Wind nodded, before he pointed at Twilight.

"Go help him now. I think we should try and understand whatever it is he will try to explain to us."

"Rude..." Twilight mumbled, hissing in pain as Time helped set his broken nose just right with a quiet 'crack.' Wind gave a wince of sympathy, knowing how painful that was distinctly. He was checking out his stuff again, just making sure what he didn't and didn't have, when he felt someone step up beside him.

"How you holding up, Sailor?" He turned and looked at Four, who looked a bit scuffled but overall, he was fine.

"Could be better, if I'm honest." He gave a lopsided smile before he figured out what he would need going forward. He had his Deku Leaf at the ready, as well as his Bow and some bombs. Maybe his boomerang as well for later.

"Good. I'm glad you're doin' alright, Kid," Four offered with a smile, and Wind gave a shrug. Four may look young, but he knew the other was just as old as Hyrule and Legend.

"Yeah. Just... some crazy things are happening. But I can get us through this place. It's just a struggle."

"When is it not?" Four asked, nudging the other lightly with an elbow before they both laughed. It was harder for them being so short, but if Four could do it, so could Wind. After some regrouping and more potions distributed, Wind climbed back up to where the spotlight of sun was coming through, and pointed down below his feet.

"See that weird swirl, Veteran?" He asked, getting a nod as he grinned. "I'm gonna bounce the light down there, and you should be able to use it to open the way forward."

"Alright. I'm still not liking this whole mirror duty."

"Neither am I, but it's better than being stuck here forever." No more pleasantries were made as he aimed the shield down to the floor below, where Legend used that beam of light to bounce back, hearing the sound of the wall shattering into dust particles below his feet. He hopped down without a care and motioned for the others to follow him.

"Come on! This should take us back to that one room."

"That's helpful..." Legend muttered and Wind frowned but he kept walking, taking the turns past the statue and wall with the same symbol.

"Is there anything behind this?" Hyrule asked curiously, making Wind turn to look at what he was questioning and he frowned in thought. What was back there again?

"Uh... I don't think so? I think it was maybe Rupees?"

"Why would anyone leave Rupee's there?" Warriors asked, raising an eyebrow at the idea of someone stashing rupees behind a wall.

"Beats me. Not a big room either. Just enough for Smithy or I to walk in and maybe grab them." No one questioned it further as they passed through the door. All nine of them were crowded in the small alcove, looking out to the main room with the cage at the far end, and just on the wall beside them the statue from before.

"How do we get down? Not all of us can glide you know." Legend questioned, giving a look to Warriors and Hyrule.

Wind frowned in thought, trying to think of how they could all get down and across, and he searched through his bags for a moment, the others joining in as they all found various items. Time had his Hover Boots to at least get across.

(Secretly Wind wanted to try them out himself.)

Wild had his Glider and Sky his Sailcloth, though it was more useful for a slow decent instead of going across. Nothing a good burst of air from the Deku Leaf couldn't fix! Legend had his Roc Cape, That left Warriors, Hyrule, Four, and Twilight without something to get them across.

"I could have the Smithy hold onto me and we can make it across easily," Wild offered, the shortest Hero giving him a thoughtful look from where Wind watched them all.

"I've got two Sails on me. But still leaves someone not able to get across to fall into the cursed fog." Wind was trying to think for a long moment, before Time just held up his hand.

"I'm certain I can carry someone with me over to the other side with my Hover Boots." Wind glanced at everyone for a moment before nodding.

"It'll have to do." He watched as they all began to prepare themselves, Wild was the first to hop off with Four on his back, unfurling his Paraglider to easily float down and land on solid ground with only a tap.

Legend was quick to follow after, taking a running leap and opening up his blue cape to glide across the air for a moment, before he gave a yelp as he plummeted down. He landed with a roll, holding his shin briefly from the splitting pain he probably felt from the impact. Wind gave a wince of sympathy before he watched as Time knelt down, letting Hyrule hop onto his back.

It left him there with Warriors, Sky, and Twilight. He looked up at them for a moment before he pulled out his Deku Leaf, holding it at the ready.

"Who wants to go first?" He offered, and neither of them moved, looking at one another with nervousness in their eyes.

"Or... you could be stuck up here for the rest of the time. I'm sure it'd get boring up here soon." Wind could see them look at teach other before Warriors just raised his hand in offering. Wind gave a grin as the other two stepped back towards the door they had originally come from, and Warriors held the sail as a makeshift parachute. Wind rolled his shoulders for a moment before giving a grin.

"Just go ahead and jump, and when you do, I'm gonna give you a push with the air!" He saw the other just give him a nervous glance, but finally he took a running leap. With a shout, Wind brought the large magical leaf down, creating a large burst of air that propelled warriors forward as he began his descent down, landing safely on the other side without touching the cursed fog. Though seeing him get tangled up in the sail made Wind snicker, unable to help himself as he saw the other just become swallowed up by it.

"Who's next?" He looked to see Twilight and Sky were looking down to see the scene, before Twilight offered next. He did the same, watching the other teen float down as well after giving him a magical wind boost. Finally, it was just him and Sky.

"Well, I guess that just leaves me now, huh?" Sky offered, and Wind nodded.

"Ready when you are, Chosen!" Sky just sighed before opening his Sailcloth, and Wind pushed him forward across the gap, seeing him land safely as well, though it was amusing to see him crash into Legend with his landing.

Wind didn't waste any more time as he took a leap in the air, grabbing the leaf with both hands as he began to glide down, the magical energies from the leaf allowing him a slow descent where he landed easily on his feet.

"I don't believe I've seen an item like that," Time began, stepping up to peer at it. "What did you say it was called again?"

"A Deku Leaf." Time froze at Wind's words and looked at him.

"Who gave it to you?"

"The Great Deku Tree. It was a gift to save Makar the Korok."

"I see."

Time had this look on his face that Wind couldn't read, but the older hero seemed to drop it for now. Wind moved over to one of the light beams and pointed for Legend to do the same. Looking up at the grinning statue, Wind aimed first, shining the light into the eye to brighten it, and then on the other side Legend did the same. It was till the same grinning face, but it glowed like the sun, illuminating the whole room and making the fog evaporate. the sound of stone falling turned everyone's attention to below the statue, seeing a set of stairs emerging to go further down into the temple.

"Huh... that's pretty neat," Wild offered, looking mildly impressed. "What's further ahead?"

"Uh... more light puzzles."

"Okay, someone is gonna have to swap shields with me if we're gonna be doing that. I'm getting tired of this damn thing," Legend gripped, and Wind gave a roll of his eyes. He was just grumpy that he's gotta be stuck doing this.

"I can do it," Hyrule offered with a mumble, raising his hand up shy. Wind didn't watch as they apparently swapped shields, heading down to the door below. Looking back they began to follow him, and he gave a smile before one by one they stepped through into the next room.

The time in the warm light was short lived, as the rest of the temple was just as dark as before. Looking into the next room, they all traveled down the long winding corridor down before stepping into a large expansive room. Across the long bridge that was suspended over more thick cursed fog, Wind could see the stone monument with the engraving of a harp on the end.

"Ah.... that miiiight be a problem," Wind began, watching as a few bubbles surrounded in cursed fog began to bob around curiously, as if patrolling the bridge itself.

"Why?" Four questioned, looking over his shoulder curiously.

"Okay, so you know how I said I had to bring the sage in here to pray and all that?" He got nods from everyone as he sighed. "Well, to pass through, she had to play her harp.”

"What did her harp do?" Twilight asked and Wind pulled out from his bags the Wind Waker, holding it up for them to see.

"I was the conductor of the gods for her to play the song with, and it was used to move the rock over there," here Wind paused to use the Wind Waker as a pointer to motion across the bridge. "And allow us further."

"Do you need a special harp? Or does she need to be here?" Hyrule asked as he scratched his cheek, trying to puzzle out the solution they needed.

"I don't know? I mean she was here last time so obviously she would do it. But any harp? If someone has one."

"I do." Sky reached into his bags and pulled out a beautiful golden harp, the strings looking pristine and even used regularly. "The Goddess Harp that my Zelda had gifted to me. Perhaps it can work for us."

"Worth a shot," Time agreed, though he eyed the musical instrument with a critical eye. Something that caught Wind's eye. Wind looked across the way, putting the looks from Time away for later thought.

Getting the Bubbles' attention, no problem. It's just not getting hit by the thick fog that surrounded them before able to kill them.

"Someone with enough arrows, hit the first one to get it over here," Wind stated, and Twilight was drawing his bow first, aiming his nocked arrow before he released it. The broadhead soared through the air before smacking into the thick bone of the floating skull. It gave a startled cackle, turning to look at them with glowing eyes, and started to make it's rattling way forward.

"Sailor!" Twilight hissed, but Wind just pulled out his Deku Leaf and waited, and waited, before he brought it down with a mighty swing. The gust of air instantly blew the offending fog off, leaving only the skull to land uselessly at their feet. Before it could hop away, Wind gave it a good kick, watching it sail in the air and landing solidly against the far wall.

"Bye you big numbskull!" Wind called out, seeing it shatter and disappear into purple cloud. He felt eyes staring at him and he turned, seeing the deadpanned look from Time and Warriors.

"What?"

"Did you just really say that?" Warriors questioned.

Wind raised an eyebrow at him, before the captain just sighed, making Wind snicker as pointed to the second Bubble. A rinse and repeat and now, they could all cross the bridge safely without getting knocked over. Standing in front of the stone monument, Wind frowned as he tried to think of how they could use it. He could see the notes, but he wasn't sure how they corresponded to the strings on the harp.

"How do you play it?" Sky questioned, and Wind scratched his head with the Wind Waker, not sure how to really answer that.

"Maybe play each note? I know exactly how it goes but just... I don't know the actual name of the notes."

"Neither do I," Sky admitted, getting a few raised eyebrows.

He rubbed the back of his head, clearly embarrassed by their stares. "I kinda just strummed along with it. It seemed to work when I had to use it before."

Hearing the groan from Legend made Wind snicker, before he just focused on Sky as he began to pluck each string. It took a few times through but finally, figured out which strings went to each note.

"Okay! So like this," He began, plucking the right notes in the pattern needed, and it made him grin. It was still just as pretty of a song as he remembered it. Sky happily strummed the notes, letting the peaceful tune ring out into the room they were in, before suddenly, the monument shook and crumbled apart, disappearing into nothingness.

Where it had been revealed a door for them to pass through.

"Huh... I guess it worked!" Wind gave a grin before he looked back at the others and then, opened the door.

In the next room, they were greeted with the sight of two ReDeads, curled up against two pillars in the room (though one was broken down to near nothingness). No movement or sound was made as all of them stopped and stared, trying to figure out how they were going to proceed.

Wind looked into his bags for a moment, and then pulled out his bombs again. He glanced over to the others for a moment, and just held them up. It was worth a try.

He motioned for them to split up and take a side each, waiting as they grouped up by the wall, and he finally lit the first fuse. He waited a second, feeling the bomb warming up in his hands, before he finally tossed it.

It landed just beside the first one yet it remained motionless.

Wild made some movement, making it turn its head in his direction, beginning to unfurl itself. However, before it could give off the terrifying screech, the bomb exploded, causing the monster to recoil in shock. The first group moved in, striking as swift as a well versed ship crew, and Wind lit the second bomb.

It was the same thing on the other side, making two ReDeads easy pickings for the whole group. Now, they were faced with a dilemma. They had three ways to go. One door was locked up on a small cliff, the block used to get up had a statue on it, and the other directions all had towering statues blocking either side. In each corner facing the statues were two large mirrors, shaped like scorpions and the surface of the glass still pristine after however long it had been since they last were cleaned.

"So where to, Sailor?" Four asked, looking around to try and guess where they might go. Wind scrunched his nose in thought, before he looked around. He swore they had been a shaft of light when he first came through this place. But it's not here. He began to walk around, trying to see if there was a hidden switch to press?

"What are you looking for?" He peeked around the statue on the left side of the room at Hyrule's question.

"That," he began, pointing up to the ceiling where a large metal shutter was closed tightly, "is supposed to be open. But it's not, so I'm trying to see if there is a hidden switch or something that would allow it to open." He didn't find anything around the statue, and began to search the rest of the room, the others now curiously poking around to try and get an idea as well.

Nothing around the floor or hidden around the statues and pillars. Wind groaned as he scratched his head, trying to figure out what he had to do. He glanced up towards the locked door, seeing it flanked on either side by a dusty, rotting banner with a skull, and he paused, staring at them.

"Something catch your eye?" Legend asked, sliding up beside him. He turned to look at the taller hero, before back at the banners.

"Gut instinct," he finally said and pulled out his bow. He whispered the spell for Fire under his breath, and took aim, before releasing. It soared for a moment before landing with a solid  _ thunk _ into the banner. Fire licked at the old moldy fabric before it turned to ash. Nothing behind the first one, so he let loose a second arrow, and watched as it uncovered a small hole, just big enough for someone to see through it but he couldn't get a good angle.

"Ugh! It's too high! I can't aim in there!" He frowned as he let his arms down, giving them a shake to release the tension from holding the drawn bow.

"Oh? That all?" Legend asked. Wind frowned, turning to see the other Hero smirking and then pointed over at Twilight.

"Hey Rancher. Wanna prove how strong you really are without any extra magic?" Wind was confused before Legend turned to him and knelt down.

"Get on."

"Huh?"

"Get on. We're gonna Totem Time."

"Totem what?"

"Just get on my shoulders, and then Twilight can pick us up to get you high enough."

"Have you lost your mind?"

"That subject is up for bias and debate so I'm declining to give one." Wind stared at the Veteran before he just sighed and hopped up onto his shoulders. The other Hero wobbled for a second, before bracing his hands on Wind's knees to keep him steady.

"Now it's your turn, Rancher."

"You all are going to make me go grey."

"Then you'll actually be an Old Man," Legend teased Time. Wind would have responded but he gave a yelp as he was lifted even higher, and glanced down to see Twilight effortlessly lift both him  _ and _ Legend up onto his shoulders. He looked over and saw he was at the perfect angle to see the crystal switch through the hole.

"Hurry up!" He heard below and Wind drew his bow once again. He aimed and let the arrow fly, hearing the sound of metal hitting glass. Then, the shutter opened up for them. Wind cheered, pumping his fists in the air before the whole human tower wobbled and then they were tipping backwards. Wind gave a shout as the whole world upturned and then suddenly he was landing backwards into someone's arms. He groaned, looking back to see he landed in the arms of Warriors, and he looked down to see that beneath him was Sky as well.

"Everyone okay?" Hyrule asked, and Wind rolled off and looked down at Legend and Sky, who looked none too pleased about how they hand landed.

"I think so?" Legend managed out before he turned to roll over as well. Sky just groaned and held his stomach, and Wind gave a sympathetic wince to the other.

"Thanks for the catch?" He offered, helping Sky stand back up as Hyrule was checking him over to see if he smacked his head on the stone.

"Don't ever ask me to do that,” Twilight grumbled at the bottom of the pile.

"You were the second tallest person I could think of. And I didn't want the Captain holding me up."

"Rude... I wouldn't have looked up your-"

"Focus. Let's get back on track here." Time interrupted, and Wind couldn't stop snickering at the implications of what Warriors would have said.

Walking over to the light shaft, Wind held out his Shield and bounced the light over onto the small statue that weighed down the block to head up to the locked door, before he turned and aimed the light over to the overly large mirror.

It reflected the light over to the statue on the right, turning it to dust. He turned and did the same with the second mirror, and he looked between both doors.

"Which way now?" Wild questioned, looking between the two doors.

"Uh..." Wind trailed off, trying to remember which way. He pointed to the door on the left first.

"That door has something we need to do before even going past that door," He pointed to the locked door.

He then turned to the door on the right. "That way has the key to go forward."

"What's the catch?" Legend asked. Wind just looked back at him and sighed.

"Cursed fog. And Floormasters."

A collective groan escaped all of them.

“Which one is worse?”

Wind frowned as he tried to ponder that, before he sighed.

“Honestly? Both are. But the worst is probably that one,” he stated, pointing to the door on the right.

He ignored the murmur between all of them as he unfurled his map, checking the general position they were in before frowning. Both rooms on either left or right weren’t large, and he didn’t want to think if he took everyone with him. No, no they’d have to split apart to make up for some time.

“Hey, guys?” He called out, everyone now looking at him. He held up his map, everyone gathering to crowd around the thick parchment.

“So, this is the room we’re in now,” he started, pointing to the medium sized square room, the previous room showing the bridge they had crossed.

“Going right leads here,” he trailed his finger to the west through a hallway that led to a room, with a few markings in a 2x4 pattern. “This room holds the key to go into this door,” he moved back to the door in the south, which was the door up atop the cliff.

“Going left leads to this,” Wind trailed his finger along the way going east on the map, showing a long hallway that connected to the room to the south.

“Both have the fog and Floormasters, as I said. But this-” he jabbed his finger at the room to the West on the map- “Has more of both. This one-” He jabbed the hallway to the East- “Has only a small section of cursed fog and two Floormasters, but someone has to move a large mirror, and smash down a huge peg to open up the light shaft.”

It was quiet between all of them, some were trying to puzzle out how to do this.

“You never did tell us what exactly the cursed fog does to you,” Four commented, his eyebrows raised in surprise at his own revelation.

Wind blinked, frowning as he tried to remember if he  _ had _ made any mention of what it did. But no, no he didn’t. In fact, he had had a chance to explain it but it was also during…

He gave a quick glance at Warriors and Sky before he frowned.

“Normally when you pass through the cursed fog, you are sapped of strength. You can walk, think, talk, ya know. Normal stuff. But it makes you so weak you can’t pull out your sword, or even lift your shield up to defend yourself. You’re basically a seagull floating in the water.”

He caught the wince from Legend at the phrase, and a part of him filed that away for another time.

“What happened um… up top. It wasn’t the normal cursed fog. At least… I don’t think so?” He rubbed his arm as he tried to think of how he wanted to explain that. They were all silent for a long moment between all of them before Time stepped pack.

  
  
“Perhaps we should split into groups?” Time offered, a Twilight nodding in agreement.

“The question is, who goes which way?” Four looked at Wind again to get his opinion.

“Going East, someone needs to have a Hammer and maybe some sort of strengthening item? Like my bracelets.”

He lifted his sleeves up to show the thin gold bands around his wrists, letting them glint in the light.

“I’ve got my hammer and power ring,” Hyrule offered, searching his packs to show the large hammer and a simple glass jar filled with dirt, which he then uncorked and dug out a silver ring.

“I’ve got a hammer as well, plus my Titan Mitts,” Legend offered as he dug around and pulled the golden colored gauntlets out to put on.

“I’m just strong, I don’t have a hammer though,” Twilight offered with a shrug.

“Uh… I think I’ve got something?” Four offered as he looked in his packs as well.

“I can’t help with any of that,” Warriors commented, Sky nodding as well with a raised hand. 

Time held up his hand, showing the back of it. The red gem glinted in the light and the oldest hero gave a small smirk.

Wild said nothing as he scratched the back of his head. Looks like he didn’t have anything of use.

“Well, looks like I’m wrong,” Four sighed, a frown on his face as he closed his bags.

“What? Got nothing to have some super strength?” Legend asked with a smirk. Four just stuck out his tongue at the other hero, but said nothing as he crossed his arms.

“Well, Sailor?” Time’s question had everyone turning to look at him again. It was silent and Wind felt a tad bit nervous now.

“Um… Not a lot of people should go that way, and not a lot should go the other way either.” Just thinking about it made his head hurt.

He needed to think and figure out how he wanted to split everyone up.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end of a memorable trip down memory lane.
> 
> But what lies for them deeper in the darkness?

It took some time but Wind had figured out how he wanted everyone to split with him. With a smile and a wave at the other six, Wind passed through the door leading West with Twilight and Four following him down the stairs.

The dank air clung in their lungs and clothes, making Wind shiver as they stopped at the end, looking out over at their obstacle ahead.

“I think that’s the sound of Floormasters,” Twilight said, his eyes dead set ahead but flicking at the rolling fog that clung to the ground ahead of them.

Wind gave a sigh, already dreading how this would go. “Yeah…”

“Is it a maze?” Four questioned, a hand on his chin in thought. With a nod, Wind looked over at the fog obscuring the ground. Not even as it seemed to undulate did it reveal what secrets it held in the depths.

“I can’t see how many there are,” Twilight admitted with a frown, his ears twitching when Wind looked up at him.

“Too many to try and use a bow to get them from here.” Wind looked down at the fog for a moment, not sure if he liked the idea of walking through it again.

He could still feel the cold pain of nails digging into his head.

“Can the fog really not be gotten rid of?” Four asked. Looking at him, Wind swore he saw his eyes flash a different color but he wasn’t sure if he was just hallucinating.

“I try to blow it away with my Deku Leaf,” Wind pulled the large and broad leaf out, seeing the magic that clung to it sparkle even after all these years. “But after a second, it seems to just roll back into place. We need light for this fog to disappear completely.”

Four raised an eyebrow before he dug around in his bags, Twilight humming in thought as he reached his hand to his pack at his hip, rummaging around.

“Well, what if I pulled it all away with my Gust Jar?” Four asked, a smirk on his face as he pulled the large object out. It was about as round as his whole torso was wide, porcelain white with blue swirling patterns all around it. It was pretty to look at, but just like everything else the Smithy had, Wind knew that looks were deceiving.

“What’s that do?” Wind asked, getting close as Four held the open end upwards to the ceiling, his smirk turning into a smug smile as he held it.

“It sucks the air in from this end, and when I release the mechanism, it blows that air forward. It’s pretty useful.”

Twilight gave a whistle, impressed at it as he gave it a curious poke.

“Pretty nifty. I don’t have anything that awesome,” Twilight commented as he held out a boomerang-like object. It was white with green tips, shaped like a bird’s wing, a glittering teal gem in the wooden cuff in the middle of it.

Wind could sense the magic in it, stepping closer as he looked at it.

“What is that?” Four asked as he set the jar down, leaning on it. Wind reached out to grab it, but hesitated, his hands hovering over it as he felt something inside it.

_“I am the Fairy of Winds,”_ A voice called out, like the gentle ringing of sea chimes back on Grandma’s porch. _“I reside in this boomerang, and I am willing to be of assistance to you.”_

“Fairy of Winds?” He asked, resting his hand on the wood. He could feel it pulse, his heart matching the thrum of magic that moved through him. He glanced up to Twilight to see him surprised as well. Around him he could feel a gentle breeze blowing around him, warm and calming.

_“Yes. Allow my powers to be of service to you all.”_ The winds died down leaving them back in the cold once more.

The shortest hero came up to Twilight and playfully ribbed him with an elbow. “Didn’t know you had this, mister I-Don’t-Like-Using-Magic,” Four sassed, a smirk on his face as Twilight rolled his eyes.

“It has helped me well, so perhaps it could help now?”

Wind thought for a long moment as he tried to think of how he could use all of this.

“Maybe…” He pondered as he looked at the fog again, tapping his Deku Leaf against his leg in thought. He set it aside for a moment as he pulled out the Wind Waker, thumb rolling against the polished metal.

“I could…” He stopped as he looked at the room again. The columns seemed to cast ominous shadows and angles in the dim light of the room, and Wind raised the Wind Waker up.

“Perhaps I can have the god of storms help me.”

“What?” Four asked, doubt in his voice.

“Cyclos. He’s the wind god of well… cyclones and storms. He and his brother Zephos helped me sail the seas. So maybe…” Wind turned to look back out to the fog and he raised the Wind Waker.

The world narrowed down, and he could hear it; the steady beat in his head. He focused on it, eyes closed as he visualized the choir before him. Their voices sang out as he directed the Wind Waker to change the pitch, hearing them ring around and reverberate in the room.

The final note hung in the air, warm and encompassing, but then a chill crept upon him as nothing happened.

Icy dread sank into his stomach as he stared out, and he could see the glowing eyes look deep in the fog, before the visible form of Cyclos appeared, shrouded in the darkness.

_“Sorry kid. Nothing personal against you. But sometimes not even us Gods can help you.”_ He felt his arm drop in dread, the voice of Cyclos echoing around them before the form disappeared.

They couldn’t… help him?

Silence hung around them for a long moment before Wind swallowed thickly, turning back to glance at Twilight and Four. He had to fight the dread wanting to claw at him from the surprised disbelief on their faces.

“That’s…” Four began, glancing from Wind to Twilight and then back to Wind.

“Unfortunate. But not the end of the world,” Twilight finished, giving a nod of his head.

A small bubble of relief bloomed in his chest, making him give a sigh.

“I thought I could ask Cyclos to bring in a small tornado into here to disperse the fog, long enough to at least go get the key and then race back.”

“Well…” Four began, drifting off as he looked to the Deku Leaf beside them all. “Maybe you can?”

“How?”

Four reached out to pat Twilight’s arm, the one holding the boomerang, and smiled.

“Fairy of Winds, a Gust Jar, and perhaps your own wind powers, Sailor?”

Twilight’s quiet ‘ooooh’ made Wind blink in surprise, but then it clicked.

“Make our own tornado?”

Four’s face split into a smirk, mischief leaking from his very being as he stood there. Wind found his own face splitting, already the image conjuring in his mind how big it could get.

“How do we do this?” Twilight asked, his thumb rubbing along the wood of his weapon, the quiet hum from the spirit inside warming their hearts slightly.

“Can I see what both of your items do?” Wind asked, already he could see a plan in motion but he wanted to be sure.

Better to furl the sail with the red dawn than to end up with a capsized ship.

Four lifted his Gust Jar up, pointing the open end towards the fog. For a moment nothing happened, but then the magic began. Like some Octorok, the air was sucked in continuously, the fog following along from the strong pull.

However, before it could continue, a skull came flying from the fog and ended up lodging itself in the opening. The blockage stopped the suction of air, making Wind begin to snicker at the rather comedic time.

“Dammit!” Four hissed before he squared himself. A shift and suddenly he was being propelled backwards onto his rear when the air was reversed, blasting the skull towards the wall opposite of them and also blowing a hole in the remaining fog.

“You okay?” Wind asked, leaning down to look at the other hero.

“Peachy… I didn’t know there were skulls in there.”

“I kinda forgot…” Wind admitted, helping him stand up onto his feet as well. They were interrupted by Twilight’s quiet ‘uh.’

Looking back, they saw the fog was now back in place, showing it would not be dispersed so easily.

“It’s pretty stubborn, isn’t it?” Four asked, getting a nod from Wind.

“I’ve found that light is the only thing that makes it completely disappear.”

“If only Chosen was here,” Twilight remarked, his pondering look drawing their attention.

“Why?”

Twilight glanced back at them, adjusting the pelt across his shoulders as it started to slip. “Let’s just say that the last time in my adventure, the Master sword was able to cut through cursed fog like this.”

“Huh… It never did that for me.” Wind placed his hands behind his head in thought, trying to remember if it did that those few years ago.

Nothing came to mind of such an ability of the Master Sword.

“I didn’t have it in my adventure, so I can’t vouch,” Four commented, shrugging his arms. Twilight just gave a sigh but he tightened his grip on the boomerang. A high pitched noise, like the constant whirl of magical energies, rang in the air, as a mini breeze swirled in his hand.

Right around the Gale Boomerang.

With a grunt, Twilight flicked his wrist and sent the item flying in the air. Where it went, it created a moving tornado, dispersing the fog in its wake. Wind watched as it made five random stops before it came back. Watching the fog settle back into place, Wind could see how his plan would go in motion, and he grinned.

"Okay!" He cried out, looking at the other two. "So here is what I'm thinking of doing.

Rancher, you're gonna throw the boomerang put into the middle, or as close to the middle as possible. Then smithy, I need you to use your jar to draw it back in, while it’s still doing its little cyclone thing."

"Will it break?" Four asked, looking up at Twilight. Said hero gave a shrug, not certain himself.

"Let's hope not? But when it's released, I'll try to get Zephos' blessing and empower the wind to keep our little tornado up for long enough that I can race over and get the key."

The other two were skeptical, but with no other plan, they decided to follow through.

They stood in silence for a moment, before Wind pointed to Four first. It took only a moment to activate his jar again (no skulls flying out of the fog this time) and Wind held the Wind Waker at the ready.

Over the roar of noise from the Gust Jar, he could catch the faint humming sound from the Gale Boomerang once more. He blocked it out for a moment, once again bringing the baton up and then conducted the choir of voices.

He could feel it, the power behind him that was his calling. Just as he opened his eyes, he pointed to Twilight and the weapon was flying through the air. It started it's circle around the left side of the room, before it went to the middle.

Getting caught in the suction of Four's Gust Jar.

The boomerang was pulled back, the winds reversing for a moment as more fog was dragged in.

"Now!" Wind shouted. Four released the mechanism, letting all the air that had been sucked in out as the weapon was now sent back to the back wall. Wind pointed the Wind Waker north.

The rushing gust of wind from behind them nearly toppled Four over, but Wind was watching as all the fog was dissipating, revealing the many Floormasters that loitered in the fog.

He didn't waste a second, knowing he only had a short amount of time to make it through to the chest. It was the only way he could bring light into the room and remove the fog completely!

"Wait Sailor!" Twilight called out as Wind ran, his legs pumping and lungs burned, hair whipping around his face from the winds, and he made it to the back alcove.

Right where the chest was.

Still not listening to the others behind him, Wind quickly pried the chest open, seeing the glittering silver key for them to use. He gave a triumphant holler of joy.

He looked back, just as the boomerang was heading towards Twilight's outstretched hand, and saw the fog disappear. Wind gave a wave to Four and Twilight, grinning ear to ear as he held the key in hand.

Stepping out of the alcove, he was quick to race around the columns again, dodging out of the grab of one Floormaster that had tried to get him, and was standing back in front of the other two.

"We gotta try that again sometime. I wonder how much bigger we can make it."

Four gave an exasperated sigh, seemingly tired already at the idea, while Twilight gave a bark of a laugh- reaching out and giving him a solid few pats on the back.

"I'll say this, Sailor. You certainly have some tricks up your sleeve. It's no wonder you were chosen by the Gods."

The elation he had felt just moments ago vanished, a sinking feeling of dread settling in his stomach like anchors.

"Um... yeah," he stated, trying to fake just a little bit of his happiness so they wouldn't catch on.

He didn't waste any more time to dive into those thoughts, heading back up the stairs to the main room they had all split up in.

Time, Warriors, and Wild were hanging out in the middle, taking a quick glance through their stuff it seems. Wind could see the small block from before had been moved to lead to the wall that was up high so everyone could climb up and go through the door.

"You certainly look like you've been in a storm," Time commented, having looked over to their entrance. Blinking, Wind moved his shield up to check his reflection, and found himself laughing.

"You could say that," he managed out through his laughs, Twilight and Four also laughing as they finally took notice of his current state of dishevelment.

"I think you could give our Champion a run for his Rupees with your hair, Sailor," Warriors called out, nudging Wild lightly. The scarred one gave a frown as he pulled at his ponytail, nose scrunched up in frustration.

"My hair is not _that_ bad..."

"It could be a lot better." Warriors stood up from the spot he'd been kneeling at, adjusting his scarf as he came up to the other three.

"Get what you need?" Warriors asked, his eyes betraying his inner worry.

Wind didn't answer verbally, just holding up the key with a grin.

"Ingenuity with a few magics with Wind power."

Time gave a loud laugh, seeing his eye was warm with amusement.

Before more words could be exchanged though, the door to the East opened, revealing Legend, Hyrule, and Sky.

They certainly looked unamused.

"That was annoying..." Legend grumbled, Hyrule giving a nod in agreement while Sky gave a heavy sigh.

"I'm just glad that you were able to clear the fog, Chosen," Hyrule offered with a small smile. Sky gave a shrug, a nervous smile pulling at his lips.

"I'm just glad I was able to pull both of you out of that... what's it called?"

"A Floormaster."

"Right. Floormaster. I was glad I was able to pull you away from it before it took you back that way."

Legend frowned, a clear indicator that he was the one that was nearly taken away.

"But, we took them out, and then we managed to move the mirror into place."

"Did you open the shutter?" Wind asked, all of them now gathered in the middle of the room together.

"Somehow, we did," Hyrule pointed out, giving a smile. Sky nodded in agreement.

Silence hung over them all for a moment, everyone trying to gather and process all that they have just witnessed.

"This place isn't..." Wild began, pausing as he tried to think of his words. "It isn't bad. I think we have all been in worse situations."

Wind frowned, not sure how to feel about how this was starting.

"But?" He asked, worried what he had to say.

"But... how did you do it?"

That question threw him off like still winds before a storm, his brain halting with that single.

"Huh?"

"How'd you do it? All of this? At... 10 you said?"

The others glanced between each other. Their looks all told Wind all he needed to know.

They were curious too.

"I uh...." He reached up to scratch his neck, trying to find his words. "I just did it."

"You said you were trying to save your sister, right?" Warriors asked.

"I mean yeah. And then saving the rest of the world kinda happened..."

"Selfless and willing to do so much for the land," Time stated, closing his eyes as he nodded. "It seems that Gods’ had chosen wisely with you."

Wind frowned as he scuffed his foot along the ground, finding a piece of stone to mess with.

"Um..." He began, looking up at the others through the fringe of his bangs.

"I wasn't... chosen willingly."

Silence hung over them at this revelation.

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, voicing the confusion that now plastered on their faces.

"It... it means they didn't choose me. Not... not of their own 'will.' If you could really consider it." Wind shuffled again, feeling a heavy weight settling down on his shoulders at their stares.

"I still don't understand..." Warriors questioned, brows scrunched up in confusion. Wind took a moment to look at them all again and then back to the ground.

"I... I made the Gods choose me."

"What?"

The sharp tone made Wind flinch, curling in on himself as he looked up at Time. But he didn't see anger in his face. Concern, confusion, worry.

"I... I traveled all across the Great Sea to find the broken pieces of the Triforce of Courage," Wind began, looking at the back of his hand to see the faint outline of the Triforce. But it was no longer there, sealed under the depths of the Ocean.

Yet they were here again, where it should have all been destroyed.

"Broken pieces?" Legend asked, as Wind glanced up at Time's face again.

"It's... it's a long story," Wind began, looking back up at Time. "But I have known for my whole life only the Great Sea. If it wasn't for the Helmaroc King snatching Tetra and then my sister, I wouldn't have done any of this."

Silence hung in the air, and Wind glanced away.

**_"You see?"_ ** The voice whispered again, and Wind froze, shivering as he felt it creep up on him, like wisps of fog clinging to him.

**_"Truly you are not fit to be among them. You weren't even the first choice by your 'gods'."_ **

"Umm..." Hyrule started, face flushing as everyone turned to look at him.

"I wasn't chosen either...." He began, worrying his lip as his ears dropped down. "I just... kinda wandered around and found myself having to save Impa, the Princess' nursemaid."

"Wait. So you're telling me-" Legend began, and Hyrule nodded.

"I just... kinda popped outta the bushes and saved Hyrule."

"Huh..." Four began, scratching his head in thought. "Honestly? We all kinda just... found ourselves in this mess really?"

"Perhaps you technically were chosen by the Gods, Sailor," Twilight offered, a tired smile on his face. Wind could still feel the icy claws of doubt wanting to worm into his head, but he took in a breath and exhaled.

"Maybe..."

"Ganondorf strikes whenever it is most inconvenient for the Hero. Most of us unprepared, untrained, and even inexperienced."

A few of the others hummed in agreement, thinking back to their own adventures. Wind happened to glance down at his left hand again, rubbing against the scarred ridge of the mark once more.

"No matter anyone's choice in being 'chosen' by the Gods, purposefully or not, you are still a Hero, Sailor," Time concluded, giving a fond smile that made the heavy burden he put on himself release, like a hand clenching too tightly and letting go of the rope to open the sails into fair winds.

And to allow himself to flourish.

"I think we've stood around long enough though," Wild butted in, looking up at the locked door that was now in their way.

Wind didn't waste any more time, heading over to pull himself up to the cliff to go unlock the door.

"Let's get going then!" He called back, his heart pounding in his ears but not from anxiety.

But from relief.

One by one they managed to climb up to where Wind stood at. With the key, he undid the heavy lock, allowing the chains to fall apart and allow them a chance to step through.

The room itself was large, on the Eastern wall was a large lattice work blocking their movement towards the mirror on the other side, which reflected bright light into the room. Scattered along the ground were various skulls and broken pottery.

Though there wasn't any sort of exit visible to them with the two huge statues before them.

"So... what do we do now?" Wild asked, taking a step down from the door towards the main floor, foot idly kicking a brittle skull in his thoughts.

"Uh..." Wind began, looking around. Just before he was about to pull his map out, there was a noise. Like the whooshing of wind but also a voice mixed in.

Whipping his head around, Wind saw the skull that Wild had kicked was now moving, floating up as fiery smoke surrounded it.

As did 5 others from the various piles of skulls.

"Crap!" Wild shouted in surprise, stumbling back towards the rest of them.

However, before Wild could pull his blade- before any of them really could- there was a cackle- distorted and loud- that echoed around them as they could now see the faint outline of Poes materializing, and looking at the group with malevolence.

"Double crap!" Legend shouted as he was shoving Hyrule forward with the Mirror Shield, attempting to get him into the beam of light quickly.

"Bubbles first! The Poes!" One of them hollered, but Wind was focusing on batting the fiery form of the skulls away, not wanting to have a singed shirt to try and repair later.

The cacophony of noise from Poes trying to lunge at the group was near deafening, many of the other Heroes darting over into the beam of light produced from the mirror behind the lattice.

With the tunnel vision these creatures had, it was no surprise that they ended up pushing themselves into the light, and solidifying themselves for attack.

Wind cackled at their absolute stupidity but he wasted no time to destroy the first ghostly foe, many of the other links doing the same.

Silence hung around them, many trying to catch their breath as they looked around, half blinded by the light.

"Okay, any more bullshit appearing from the stonework?" Legend asked, dusting off his tunic. Wind frowned as he looked around. He glanced at the statues for a moment before he looked at his shield.

Especially since there was a third one hidden by the Western wall, behind an alcove.

"I think it's this way," Wind offered, holding up his shield, and then looked to Hyrule.

"Oh!" Hyrule gasped before he maneuvered the shield on his arm, his face pulled in a grimace at the weight of it.

Wind moved to try and guess how to manipulate the light the best before he took a few steps back, towards the lattice wall behind him, and he raised his own shield up.

Hyrule- using Legend's shield- managed to manipulate the light to bounce it from himself to Wind, and the youngest proceeded to shine it on the hidden statue.

Watching it crumble apart into dust was always satisfying. Especially when it revealed a door.

One by one they passed through the door, leading into a dark set of halls with a stone crypt set upright.

Everyone froze just past the doorway, trying to glean some form of insight just from what they were seeing.

Though they couldn't do so with a flock of Keese appearing from the dark corners, diving down at them with glowing yellow eyes and long chatter of noises from them.

It was fairly easy to fend off the batty creatures, leaving them alone with two paths to go.

"Oh no you don't," Twilight hissed behind Wind, and he turned to see him grabbing the back of Wild's shirt, preventing the other hero from turning back around.

"I know what's in those stupid things!" Wild whimpered, his eyes wide in fear as he tried to pry the other's fingers out of his clothes.

"Not all of them have something bad in them," Wind grumbled. However, he could understand the fear from having that terrifying screech in your ears would traumatize anyone. Especially if they try to bite at you.

"Which way do we go?" Time questioned, pinching the bridge of his nose. To fight off a headache from this Temple? Or from the antics of the other two?

"I think we go... right?" He questioned, but he reached out to pull the map from his bags and took a quick glance at it. He gave a thumbs up to them before he was led the way.

And nearly ran head first into a ReDead that was curled up in the middle of the right hallway.

He scrambled to try and stop himself-and thankfully he did- before he was quickly trying to back pedal away from the creature. He felt someone else run into his back as he was attempting to get away, but with the impact he fell forward into the cold stone floor.

"Urk!" The baritone of Warrior's voice sounded on top of him, before he gave a shout and pulled his shield up just in time to block the full force of the coffin lid that was attempting to crush them. It was silent as the others made to come over and check on them, but they all froze at seeing the ReDead in the middle of the hall.

"You guys okay?" Four asked in a stage whisper, attempting to try and check on them without getting too close.

"Fine... just fine," Warriors responded as Wind wiggled a hand free and a thumbs up.

Slowly they moved to stand up, ignoring the yelp of fear from Wild as he had attempted to leave again but was stopped by Time and Twilight both grabbing a hold of him.

Wind didn't waste any moments they had of relatively safety. He pulled out a bomb from his bags again, everyone now backing up to get some distance from the explosive device. He lit the wick and tossed it over, having it land just behind the creature. It lifted its head, eyes hollowed out blackness. It began to uncurl itself, and made to take a step forwards to them, but it was stunned by the pain of the explosion behind it.

Wind was quick, drawing his sword to deliver blow after blow against the creature. With a sad groan, it collapsed to the ground, no movement from it as it began to crumble apart into dust.

Though the explosion also rattled the whole room, exposing the rest of the coffins that lined the hall to reveal what all was inside.

"Run!" Wind shouted, hearing the shuffling of monster footsteps behind all of them.

A mad dash past Stalfos and another ReDead lead to an alcove and another stone tablet.

Not another one!

"We'll hold them off!" Hyrule shouted, drawing his blade to stand and defend. Sky was about to do the same before Wind reached out and pulled him closer to the engraved tablet, and pulled out the Wind Waker.

He looked as conflicted as Wind felt, but they couldn't break this down. A quick glance at the others, seeing them presenting arms as the encroaching army of the dead was nearly upon them.

He raised the magical baton up and conducted the choir of gods again, singing out for all to hear as Sky played along, letting the notes hang in the air.

For a moment, it felt like nothing would happen. But then, the large tablet began to crack down the middle, shifting apart before crumbling into nothingness.

Just as the first Stalfos made to take a swing at them all.

"It's open!" Wind shouted, pressing against the door and allowing all of them passage into the next room, which was a hallway of stairs leading down and lit by the rows of torches on the wall.

One by one they all made it through, and Wind managed to slip through just as the spiked mace from the Stalfos tried to hit him where his head had been.

With a resounding _'slam,'_ the door closed and prevented the enemies to follow them through. Or at least, he hoped. He raced down to follow the others, until he saw the back of Four just ahead of him.

They were all staring at the large pit-like room, trying to see where they were gonna be going.

"You okay?" Time asked in concern. Wind, out of breath, managed a nod and a small thumbs up to him.

"How do we get over there?" Twilight asked after a moment, motioning to the large, elaborate door that was just across from them. Especially when it was locked with a large and intricate lock.

"We don't have the key yet to go there."

The collective groan from everyone after Wind's statement made him nod in understanding.

"We gotta go down first."

"Down?" Hyrule asked, looking over the edge to see a mist filled pit with no bottom to be seen.

Until he saw the broken staircase that led to a door just under their platform.

"Oh, the door."

Legend’s question of: “How’re we gonna make it down there?” broke the silence around them, and Wind sighed.

“We can just from over there to make it down,” he explained, gesturing to the right of the small portion of the platform they were on that jutted over the doorway.

“Not all at once, I hope,” Time asked with a teasing smirk. Wind rolled his eyes, remembering the last time they were all dog-piled together after a jump.

“Of course not.” Wind took a moment to gauge the drop depth, before he allowed himself a moment of prayer and made the small leap. He landed just before the door, stepping aside to open it and allow the exchange of airflow as one by one everyone came down.

The room they were in was dark and dank, like the rest of the Temple, but they could see the elaborate work that was put into the stonework, into the sheer scale of the room. Across from the door was another structure like in the earliest of rooms, with the eyes replaced by reflective sun and moon symbols upon it’s grinning face.

Looking out he could see the first of many mirrors to maneuver, even if the others couldn’t see it yet.

“So….” Four began, scratching his head as he looked around. “What next, Sailor?”

He pointed out towards the lone switch that was atop of the large stone structure that clearly was an obstacle for the room. “Someone has to get over there to push the switch. That will open the shutters.”

“Oh.”

He didn’t wait for them to figure out who would go up there, dropping down towards the large scorpion mirror and pushed up his sleeves. The golden bracelets wiggled with the movements before he pressed his hands to the cold stone and pushed the large mirror across the divot track set in place.

The sound of rusted metal moving drew his attention up, seeing the beginning rays of light starting to pour in. A glance back showed that Wild had gotten himself over and pushed down the necessary switch. He grunted as he moved the mirror just a few more steps, and it slotted into place with a resounding _‘thud.’_

He watched as the light shaft hit the mirror, bouncing it out forward, but nowhere near close enough to effectively reflect it into the light sensitive metal. Wind motioned for the others to come down, heading towards the small dais and climbed up, right into the light.

"Okay uh.... Traveler!" Wind called out, seeing he still held Legend's mirror shield. "See over there? That alcove?" Hyrule moved over and saw the smaller dais with the carving of a harp in the stonework.

"Yeah?"

"Just hold on a second," Wind called out as he maneuvered his shield, bouncing the light off into a section of the stonework, revealing through the crumbling dust of the walls another large mirror.

"Okay, see the pattern on the wall, Traveler?" Wind asked, squinting to see the other. A nod and he could see that he had pulled his shield out. Wind didn't waste a moment, reflecting the light towards him to watch it bounce off.

The sound of the wall crumbling was the only confirmation to him that it was working.

The rest of the room was like this, moving mirrors, revealing hidden walls and opening sections of the wall.

Finally, it culminated with both himself and Hyrule on the last two dais, the others were heaving for air from the amount of pulling and pushing of mirrors, and he nodded.

Reflecting the light off their shields, Wind and Hyrule activated the sensitive metal in the large statue, light now blooming across the whole room. What everyone thought to be gray stone revealed it was almost a white color under the warm light.

With the light came the revelation of a door under the statue.

Wind glanced to his map one last time, checking the room they were in to see that just beyond the door was a dead end room.

But also the key to getting out of this dungeon.

"Alright..." he began, working his lip with his teeth as he tried to think this through. He could feel the others were watching him, and Wind took a deep breath before letting it out.

"This last room isn't going to fit all of us," he glanced at everyone, rolling up his map and stuffing it away for later. "So while I plan on going, I don't think there should be any more than... three of us total?" He shifted on his feet, trying to get himself pumped up but also no barrel straight ahead.

"What's in the room?" Warriors questioned, crossing his arms as he leaned against the cool stone.

"Darknuts."

"Ugh..." Four groaned, head tipping back in exasperation. Wind just gave a nod. Twilight frowned himself as Legend and Hyrule gave a sigh themselves.

it was a quiet murmur between them all as they contemplated how they were going to go through the room. Time took this moment to step forward, nodding to Wind. And then Hyrule was stepping forward, having handed the heavy Mirror Shield back to Legend in favor of his lighter but durable shield. Legend gave a roll of his shoulders, expression seeming bored as he stood beside Time and Hyrule. The last to step up was Wild, his smile wavering but he seemed resolute.

"He stepped forward towards the door, the others following behind him. When the last of them entered the dark room, the sound of the doors closing behind them rang with some form of finality to them. Especially when metal bars slammed down to keep the others from entering.

The small torches at the top of the ceiling lit by themselves, showing that it was still a fairly cramped room. But at the back, in front of a cell cage, was not one Darknut, but three. Two moblins were in the corner snoring away, and all around were various skeletons of the deceased.

One could hear a pebble drop.

No one moved as they stared at the scene. The Darknuts didn't see them behind their overly large swords; held aloft in front of their faces. Just like they hid behind thick armor that covered them from practically all sides.

There was no way that they hadn't been heard. It was a waiting game though.

Carefully, Wind reached behind him to unsheath the Phantom Sword, holding it steady in his hands. The noise drew the attention of the Moblins; their dog-like faces twitching as did their ears. They heard the noise. One b one the others drew their own weapons, and thus drew the attention of the monsters.

The first Moblin charged forward with a spear, meaning to aim low at them. But they scattered apart to avoid it, the second one charging in. Wind didn't get caught up in what was happening, hearing the sound of metal gauntlets shifting and he saw the Darknuts had twisted their blades, now seeing past the large weapon from under the helmets.

A furious battle, full of slashes and dodging, parrying and blocking. He couldn't focus on the others, doing his best to keep from being knocked around by the large sword. Until he took the chance to roll to the side, and he sliced up the back of the Darknut.

The thick rope straps that held up the armor were easily sliced by his sword, leaving the Darknut momentarily surprised before it was quick to get back to fighting, this time lashing out with a kick made to aim low.

It was quick thinking to block with his shield that prevented him from being sent flying. However, before either of them could make a strike, a large sword was stuck through it in the back, allowing black blood to pour out of the wound.

Wind watched the Darknut turn its glowing red eyes back behind him, but Wind wasted nothing as he dashed forward and put in a stab himself into the gut, straight through the jack of plates it wore.

Time and Wind pulled their swords free, the Darknut falling forward with a gurgle, and turned to continue helping the others.

Hyrule had used that Jump spell of his to dodge the spear attack aimed at him from the Moblin, and he used the gravity of the world to slam his blade down into the back of the Moblin's neck, now attempting to free himself from the beast's hide as it too surged forward into a death throe. Four was dancing around another Darknut with Wild, attempting to try and slip past its defenses.

Wind saw the remnants of the first Moblin and Darknut were on the ground, along with the large black blood stains. But he didn't pay much attention as he moved to the last Darknut, preventing it from taking a dirty stab at Wild's unprotected back.

With its attention on him, Wind pulled it away from the others, trying to keep them all separated enough to not end up in each other's crossfire of sword swings.

It also made for an easy tactic to let Hyrule dash over and press the gleaming white blade through the slit in the back of armor, hearing the Darknut grunt in surprise. Wind was quick to take his chance and he used the chest plate to vault up and he kicked the helmet off.

Landing, Wind watched those eyes burn with hatred. But he didn't get to see any other actions as Time was quick to take the large claymore of his and slam the blade into the side of its neck, black blood staining the dark skin of the enemy before it fell with a roar of pain and anguish.

The last Darknut echoed the same cry, falling with the severe stab wounds along the whole front of its chest, armor scattered around in a haphazard mess. With the monsters disappearing into dark smoke, leaving blades and clothing covered in black blood, Wind took the chance to look at everyone.

They had done it!

"Is anyone hurt?" Hyrule asked, a bit winded as he tried to find some bit of cloth to wipe off his blade.

"I'm good," Four called out, flicking his short blade to attempt getting the corrosive liquid off.

"Just shaking in my boots," Wild commented, wiping his forehead of sweat.

"I'm fine," Wind stated, before he turned to look at Time. He was holding his shoulder, face set in a grimace. But one look in his eyes told Wind that he had attempted to hide it.

Which failed from Hyrule's observant gaze.

"What happened?" The traveler asked as he walked up to the oldest Hero. Wind gave a wince and turned to avoid hearing that lecture, passing through the cage to the ornate chest before him.

Opening it, Wind found himself staring at the large golden key with an eye emblazoned on the front. He stuffed it away into his pouch for a moment, before turning back around. He saw the glowing energy from Hyrule's hands as he used his magical capabilities to heal Time's shoulder wound.

"I could have easily taken a potion, Traveler," Time grumbled, seemingly annoyed about the fact that he was wasting his magic.

"I don't have any one me right now. And I don't want to have to try and stitch close your rotator cuff with how aggravated that damage is." Wind didn't know what a rotator cuff was, but he had a feeling that it was bad if it was ruined.

"I'm just glad these monsters don't have infected weapons," Four commented, kicking one of the large swords over to look at it, his hands moving along the polished steel as Wild lifted a spear.

"Yeah. I would hate to see what could happen," Wind agreed, face set in a grimace at the very notion of what could be. A look over to see Hyrule had finished using his magic, watching as Time rolled his shoulder a few times before giving a nod.

Either Time really was okay, or he was hiding his discomfort.

They didn't have time to argue though. Their exit was open, and Wind was willing to bet that the quicker they got to the end of this place, the quicker they could leave this whole place behind and forget about it.

"Glad you guys made it in one piece," was their greeting from Warriors as they left the room, soaking in the warm rays of the light in an attempt to gain a small ounce of joy from this dreary place.

"Yeah, we did," Wind offered with a cheeky grin, before he motioned for the others to follow him back out.

Getting over the large pit to lead to the boss door was tricky. Especially when it involved a couple of Hookshots and some climbing to get them all up in front of the large door.

Wind looked at the door for a moment, trying to remember how he had done this last time, all those years ago. He fiddled with his power bracelets for a moment, trying to remember the frenzy of movements that he had managed to make with the last time fighting, and he gave a nod to himself.

"This is it." He turned to look at the others for a moment, rolling his shoulders back a few times to try and stretch out. "This is where we will have the end of the line. Past here is the big bad boss, Jalhalla."

"What do we need to expect?" Twilight questioned, the others giving a nod.

Wind floundered for a moment, not sure how to describe this whole mess. "You know the... the Poes we've been fighting? Well he's kinda the big bad boss of them. Even made up of a bunch of them."

"How?" Wild asked, his face confused as he stood there. Wind just shrugged at him.

"What kind of attacks should we be on the lookout for?" Sky picked up the next question, fiddling with the clasp that kept his sail cloth around his shoulders in his nervousness.

"Uh... He does a lot of fire attacks with his lantern. Like he can suck in a bunch of air before blowing out fire with his lantern. And large fireballs too!"

Sky's grimace told Wind that he wasn't looking forward to it. Especially since he began to put away his sail cloth.

Warriors asked the next question. "What do we need to do to defeat him?"

"Light. Gotta shine the light on him like the other Poes. If you have power bracelets or gloves or... or something, you gotta lift him and throw him into the spikes so he breaks apart."

"Huh..." Warriors mused, his face thoughtful.

"So it looks like you and I are on shield duty," Legend commented, holding up the gleaming shield of his with a smirk.

"Yeah. But we both know we're not gonna just stand still."

"Of course not, Sailor. We're both too antsy to just stand around and look pretty." The side-eye glance over at the army captain made Wind snort and turn away, trying to not give in and help antagonize Warriors.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Wind just heaved an exhausted sigh.

He fell for the bait....

"Before you guys begin to argue," Time stepped in, preventing as possible brawl before they could even get into the middle of the fight. Wind nodded, and with every bit of loose clothing tucked away safely, Wind pressed the large key into the oversized lock and turned.

The whirl of the mechanism sounded, before the large golden lock and chains fell, allowing them entrance into the next room.

Stepping into the room, they were greeted by the sight of several multicolored Poes running around in a panic, the room lit enough to allow sight from the various braziers up on the walls. It was almost comical how they seemed to panic.

Yet as one they stopped, turning to look at the group of nine heroes. The room grew dark, casting shadows that obscured some details, as a large mask appeared in the center of the room.

With a cackle they Poes turned to converge onto the mask, going from solid into a translucent state before they hopped into the mask.

They could only watch in horror as from the mask came the body, bulging out like hot bubbling tar as limbs came out with the overly large body. But While it was large, it was just as translucent as the ghostly like enemies that made up this being.

Jalhalla looked to his empty hands for a moment, seemingly surprised that it was empty. Before a snap of stick-thin fingers and the device appeared in a plume of fire and smoke.

The full-bellied laugh it gave- loud and echoing from the room- annoyed Wind, but he drew his blade without hesitation.

"Isn't there supposed to be light?" Legend asked as they scattered apart, trying to find some means of divide and conquer.

"There should be three shutters!" Wind shouted out as he raised his shield, blocking a fireball that had been sent tumbling after him from the erratic swinging of Jalhalla's lantern.

"Hate to break it to you, but there isn't anything!" Legend hissed out as he used his quick feet to get away from the barrage of fireballs.

Cursing heavily under his breath, Wind tried to look and see what could be causing their dilemma.

There! Hidden behind a pillar was a large crank system. That was the only clue he could see.

"Someone needs to crank them open!" Wind shouted out. He watched as Hyrule was quick to dash over, silver ring glittering on his finger as he grabbed the crank and began to turn it.

With every pass a shutter opened up little by little, and Wind moved as quickly as his legs could take him, skidding into the growing light to aim the light off his shield onto Jalhalla.

Feeling the sting of light, Wind watched the large ghost-like being collapse to the ground with a thud, seemingly exhausted from just behind exposed to the light.

"I've got this!" Time shouted as he raced over. With a grunt Time managed to lift the heavy monster up, turning slowly under the massive weight, as everyone else moved away from his path of destruction.

With a shout, Time tossed the giant ghost into a large spiked column, watching as Jalhalla fell apart into the many Poes that made up it's form.

"Kill as many as you can, before they all reform!" Wind shouted out, swinging his blade to any of the little creatures that moved towards him in their frantic dash.

It was chaotic as they scrambled to try and stab at the myriad of Poes that danced around, taking swipes and stabs however they could. Even Hyrule let go of the crank to take a quick jab at one of the nearby creatures.

But their time ran short as Jalhalla's mask appeared again, the Poe's taking the chance in the darkened room to become transparent and merge with the mask.

Before anyone could move Jalhalla was inhaling deeply, attempting to draw everyone closer to him before he blew a long plume of fire from his lantern, circling the room in an attempt to catch them aflame.

Thankfully someone-Twilight- managed to dodge the fire and was dashing over to work on the crank again. Wind managed to slide over to the open light spot and watched as the light danced briefly over Jalhalla, stunning him.

It stopped the fire.

Repositioning himself, Wind watched him land on the ground with a thud again. Legend was quick to race over, his Power gloves glinting in the light, as he picked up the being.

_"We're not killing enough of the Poes at once!"_ He thought to himself, watching as Legend struggled to turn with the wiggling monster in his grasp. But then he remembered something.

it was worth a shot!

When Jalhalla rolled into the spiked pillar in the 'corners' of the room, Wind was holding out his blade, muttering under his breath as magical energies gathered at the blade, illuminating like lightning storms.

"Everyone get back!" He shouted out, just as the Poes all darted around the room.

"What're you-" Someone asked, but he didn't listen as he gave a prayer above for a good breeze, and he spun himself.

The world turned into a blur as he held onto the blade, spinning rapidly on his feet with the blade literally taking him for a ride. He could barely catch what the others were saying, but he knew he was connecting with the Poes as they all gave cries of pain and disappeared.

He finally stopped, only to wobble on his legs as dizziness settled in his bones.

"Sailor!" He heard his name, but he couldn't even see straight with how his vision wobbled and shifted around, and he found himself dropping backwards onto his butt.

"Too much energy..." he managed out, stomach queasy as hands grappled him, trying to pull him up. He was still dizzy but no longer was the world shifting with colors. He could make out shapes as Wild was pulling him away from the fray for a moment.

"What was that and how can I learn it?" Wild questioned as Wind blinked a few times to catch himself.

"Uh... It's called the Hurricane spine. Teaching? Don't know how," he managed out with a groan, the world no longer tipping around.

"You caught 12 of those little ghosts with that attack" Wild commended before he was quick to get back into the fray, seeing that Legend and Time had split the creature up again.

"I'm not doing that again," Wind muttered as he jumped back in, dizziness forgotten in an effort to keep himself sane.

Even with Jalhalla deciding to bounce around and try to squish them, it wasn't much longer with nine heroes to defeat the creature.

With the last dying cry of the Poe, the mask of Jalhalla appeared.

It looked left, then right, then forward, mouth opening in shocked silence.

A moment of awkward silence fell over them.

Before they watched as it frantically tried to ascend up out of the room.

It miscalculated as Twilight and Hyrule had quickly opened up the shutters once more, allowing bright light to flood the room.

It gave a garbled noise of surprise, hovering in the air for just a few seconds, and then dropped. The mask shattered into thousands of tiny ceramic pieces, which then disappeared into purple smoke. A chorus of cheers called from all of them, as Wind happily jumped up and down in happiness.

He then collapsed backwards to look up at the ceiling.

"We're done with this place..."

"You sure? Because the floor is glowing."

Wind managed to turn his head, looking at the glowing mark of the triforce that encompassed a good portion of the stonework in the floor. It did indeed glow as Sky was saying, light cascading up in gentle sparkles. The way out and back to the surface.

"That's our ticket out," Wind said, giving a smile as he pushed himself to his feet.

"Good. I'm tired of this creepy place," Legend grumbled.

"Same here."

"Thank Hylia and whatever other gods are out there."

"Just be glad we didn't have to deal with Spiders."

"Do not remind me..."

One by one they all stepped into the glowing light. Relief had seeped into their bones as one by one they ascended into the light, before the room disappeared in the flash of white.

Though after they left, the sounds of footsteps came from the shadows, no more than a whisper in the deathly quiet that settled over this place.

_"That was much too easy for them. Perhaps we’ll have to change tactics..."_

The sound of magic crackled in the room, before the deathly silence engulfed the ruins once again.

Only the cold wind would blow to disturb the crypt of the dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was a blast rewriting this story. Looking back I see the new take I could have taken the original story and I enjoy this so much more than what had happened in the first.
> 
> Thank you all for making it to the end of this
> 
> Be prepared, for more darkness lurks ahead of our heros.


End file.
